Gateway- As in Common Gateway Interface (CGI). It is a piece of software that allows two items to communicate with each other. They are used to make connections between computers and systems inside that computer.
General Protection Fault- GPF, short for General Protection Fault, is a computer condition that causes a Windows application to crash. The most common cause of a GPF is two applications trying to use the same block of memory, or more specifically, one application trying to use memory assigned to another application.
The following situations can also cause GPFs:
- Running an application with insufficient resources
- Using improper hardware device drivers
- Corrupted or missing Windows files
- Applications exchanging data that cannot be read
- GPFs are often preceded by an invalid page fault.
GIF- Pronounced "jif." Stands for Graphical Interchange Format. It is an image format created by Compuserve.
Gigabyte- 2 to the 30th power (1,073,741,824) bytes. One gigabyte is equal to 1,024 megabytes. Gigabyte is often abbreviated as G or GB.
GIGO- It's an acronym that stands for Garbage In, Garbage Out.
Glyph- A graphic symbol whose appearance conveys information; for example, the vertical and horizontal arrows on cursor keys that indicate the directions in which they control cursor movement.
Gopher- A method of distributing information by computers that has waned in popularity to ftp. Most gopher files contain only text information with few images, audio, or video components. Files can be downloaded with a similar protocol like ftp.
GUI - Graphical User Interface- A program interface that takes advantage of the computer's graphics capabilities to make the program easier to use. Well-designed graphical user interfaces can free the user from learning complex command languages. On the other hand, many users find that they work more effectively with a command-driven interface, especially if they already know the command language.
Half-Duplex- Refers to the transmission of data in just one direction at a time. For example, a walkie-talkie is a half-duplex device because only one party can talk at a time. In contrast, a telephone is a full-duplex device because both parties can talk simultaneously.
Most modems contain a switch that lets you select between half-duplex and full-duplex modes. The correct choice depends on which program you are using to transmit data through the modem.
In half-duplex mode, each character transmitted is immediately displayed on your screen. (For this reason, it is sometimes called local echo -- characters are echoed by the local device). In full-duplex mode, transmitted data is not displayed on your monitor until it has been received and returned (remotely echoed) by the other device. If you are running a communications program and every character appears twice, it probably means that your modem is in half-duplex mode when it should be in full-duplex mode, and every character is being both locally and remotely echoed.
Handshaking- The process by which two devices initiate communications. Handshaking begins when one device sends a message to another device indicating that it wants to establish a communications channel. The two devices then send several messages back and forth that enable them to agree on a communications protocol.
Hard Boot- A hard reboot (also known as a cold reboot) is when power to a computer is cycled (turned on and off) or a special reset signal to the processor is triggered (from a front panel switch of some sort). This restarts the computer without first performing the usual shut-down procedure. (With many operating systems, especially those with disc caches, after a hard reboot the system may well be in an "unclean" state, and require that checks and repairs to on-disc filesystem structures be performed before normal operation can begin.) It may be caused by power failure, be done by accident, or be done deliberately as a last resort because nothing else to retrieve the system from a "hung" state works.
Hardware- These are the physical items including your computer and floppy discs
Hayes Compatible- Hayes Microcomputer Products is one of the leading manufacturers of modems and has developed a language called the AT command set for controlling modems that has become the de facto standard. Any modem that recognizes Hayes modem commands is said to be Hayes-compatible.
This is very useful because most communications programs use Hayes modem commands. Virtually all modems manufactured today are Hayes-compatible.
Headend- Central distribution point for a CATV system. Video signals are received here from satellites and maybe other sources, frequency converted to the appropriate channels, combined with locally originated signals, and rebroadcast onto the HFC plant. The headend is where the CMTS is normally located.
Heat Sink- A component designed to lower the temperature of an electronic device by dissipating heat into the surrounding air. All modern CPUs require a heat sink. Some also require a fan. A heat sink without a fan is called a passive heat sink; a heat sink with a fan is called an active heat sink. Heat sinks are generally made of a zinc alloy and often have fins.
Helper Application- This is an application your browser uses to manipulate a downloaded program.
HFC- Hybrid fiber-coaxial (cable network). Older CATV systems were provisioned using only coaxial cable. Modern systems use fiber transport from the headend to an optical node located in the neighborhood to reduce system noise. Coaxial cable runs from the node to the subscriber. The fiber plant is generally a star configuration with all optical node fibers terminating at a headend. The coaxial cable part of the system is generally a trunk-and-branch configuration.
High Memory Area- In DOS -based systems, the high memory area refers to the first 64K of extended memory.
HST- High Speed Technology- Before the invention of the CCITT V.32 modem standards for 9600 BPS modems, US Robotics invented a proprietary protocol that runs even faster at 14,400 BPS. It became popular on US bulletin board system, but never caught on outside the USA. It is gradually being replaced by V.32.
Host- A computer on a network that provides services to other computers on the network. Unless you have your own server, you need a hosting company who provides a server or computer that is connected to the internet and makes your web pages available to the rest of the internet.
Hot Fix- Novell, Inc.'s term for the feature of their network file server operating system, Novell NetWare, which handles errors in disk write operations. The OS re-reads every block it writes to disk while it holds the data to be written in memory. In the case of an error, the data block is written to a spare area on the disk.
The feature lost much of its importance with the widespread use of hard disk drives with built-in error correction and bad block re-mapping.
Hotlist- List of URLs saved within the Mosaic Web browser. (Bookmark in Netscape.)
HTML- Hyper Text Markup Language. It is a collection of structuring and formatting tags used to create Web pages.
HTTP- Stands for HyperText Transport Protocol. Common protocol used to communicate between World Wide Web Servers.
Hub- A common connection point for devices in a network. Hubs are commonly used to connect segments of a LAN. A hub contains multiple ports. When a packet arrives at one port, it is copied to the other ports so that all segments of the LAN can see all packets.
A passive hub serves simply as a conduit for the data, enabling it to go from one device (or segment) to another. So-called intelligent hubs include additional features that enables an administrator to monitor the traffic passing through the hub and to configure each port in the hub. Intelligent hubs are also called manageable hubs.
A third type of hub, called a switching hub, actually reads the destination address of each packet and then forwards the packet to the correct port.
Hybrid- A device or system combining two types of mechanisms, circuits, or design approaches, each of which could of itself accomplish the total function but in a different and usually less effective manner. A hybrid computer combines digital and analog computers into one functioning system.
Hypertext- This is a mark-up language that allows for non-linear transfers of data. The method allows your computer to provide the computational power rather than attaching to a mainframe and waiting for it to do the work for you.
Hyper-Threading- (HTT = Hyper Threading Technology) is Intel's trademark for their implementation of the simultaneous multithreading technology on the Pentium 4 microarchitecture. It is basically a more advanced form of Super-threading that first debuted on the Intel Xeon processors and later added to Pentium 4 processors.
IBM- Stands for International Business Machines
ICMP- (Internet Control Message Protocol) A message control and error-reporting protocol between a host server and a gateway to the Internet. ICMP uses Internet Protocol (IP) datagrams, but the messages are processed by the IP software and are not directly apparent to the application user.
Icon- A small video display that acts as an activation link when clicked on.
IDE- (Integrated Development Environment) A programming environment integrated into an application. For example, Microsoft Office applications support various versions of the BASIC programming language. You can develop a WordBasic application while running Microsoft Word.
IMAP- PA group of computers and devices on a network that are administered as a unit with common rules and procedures. Within the Internet, domains are defined by the IP address. All devices sharing a common part of the IP address are said to be in the same domain.
Italics- A type style with slightly slanted characters, used for emphasis. Best used to set off quotes, special phrases, and foreign words, italic letters have a redesigned structure that allows them to slant to the right. The first italic type was designed by Aldus Manutius in AD 1501 and was based on the handwriting style of that time. Furthermore, lowercase letters were in italics while capital letters were Roman (or vertical stance).
Integrated Circuit- Another name for a chip, an IC is a small electronic device made out of a semiconductor material.
Interface- This is any type of point where two different things come together. Most often, the term is used to describe the programs between you and your computer like Windows, OS/2 and others. What you see on the screen is the interface between you and what your computer is doing.
Interlacing- A display technique that enables a monitor to provide more resolution inexpensively. With interlacing monitors, the electron guns draw only half the horizontal lines with each pass (for example, all odd lines on one pass and all even lines on the next pass). Because an interlacing monitor refreshes only half the lines at one time, it can display twice as many lines per refresh cycle, giving it greater resolution. Another way of looking at it is that interlacing provides the same resolution as non-interlacing, but less expensively.
Interleaving- A recording method that reduces data errors during playback. Instead of the file being written in a contiguous data stream, the data sectors are intermixed along the recording track. If a disc should have a smudge or scratch, the entire data file is generally recoverable because a smaller amount of the file data is affected.
Internal Modem- A modem that resides on an expansion board that plugs into a computer. In contrast, an external modem is a box that attaches to a computer's COM port via cables.
Internet- The Internet is a super-network. It connects many smaller networks together and allows all the computers to exchange information with each other. To accomplish this all the computers on the Internet have to use a common set of rules for communication. Those rules are called protocols, and the Internet uses a set of protocols called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol). Many people equate the World Wide Web with the Internet. In fact, the Internet is like the highway, and the World Wide Web is like a truck that uses that highway to get from place to place.
Interrupt- A signal informing a program that an event has occurred. When a program receives an interrupt signal, it takes a specified action (which can be to ignore the signal). Interrupt signals can cause a program to suspend itself temporarily to service the interrupt.
Interrupt signals can come from a variety of sources. For example, every keystroke generates an interrupt signal. Interrupts can also be generated by other devices, such as a printer, to indicate that some event has occurred. These are called hardware interrupts. Interrupt signals initiated by programs are called software interrupts. A software interrupt is also called a trap or an exception.
PCs support 256 types of software interrupts and 15 hardware interrupts. Each type of software interrupt is associated with an interrupt handler -- a routine key on your keyboard, this triggers a specific interrupt handler. The complete list of interrupts and associated interrupt handlers is stored in a table called the interrupt vector table, which resides in the first 1 K of addressable memory.
Intranet- A private network for communications and sharing of information that, like the Internet, is based on TCP/IP but is accessible only to authorized users within an organization. An organization's intranet is usually protected from external access by a firewall. See also: Extranet.
IPX- Short for Internetwork Packet Exchange, a networking protocol used by the Novell NetWare operating systems. Like UDP/IP, IPX is a datagram protocol used for connectionless communications. Higher-level protocols, such as SPX and NCP, are used for additional error recovery services. The successor to IPX is the NetWare Link Services Protocol (NLSP).
IS- Stands for Information System.
ISA- The bus architecture used in the IBM PC/XT and PC/AT. It's often abbreviated as ISA (pronounced as separate letters or as eye-sa) bus. The AT version of the bus is called the AT bus and became a de facto industry standard. Starting in the early 90s, ISA began to be replaced by the PCI local bus architecture. Most computers made today include both an AT bus for slower devices and a PCI bus for devices that need better bus performance.
In 1993, Intel and Microsoft introduced a new version of the ISA specification called Plug and Play ISA. Plug and Play ISA enables the operating system to configure expansion boards automatically so that users do not need to fiddle with DIP switches and jumpers.
ISDN- Integrated Services Digital Network. Basically a way to move more data over regular existing phone lines. ISDN is available to much of the USA and in most markets it is priced very comparably to standard analog phone circuits. It can provide speeds of roughly 128,000 bits-per-second over regular phone lines. In practice, most people will be limited to 56,000 or 64,000 bits-per-second.
Unlike DSL, ISDN can be used to connect to many different locations, one at a time, just like a regular telephone call, as long the other location also has ISDN.
ISO- Stands for the International Standards Organization. Someone has to say what is the standard for transferring data. These people are it. You'll find them in Paris.
ISP- Internet Service Provider, a company that provides access to the Internet. For a monthly fee, the service provider gives you a software package, username, password and access phone number. Equipped with a modem, you can then log on to the Internet and browse the World Wide Web and USENET, and send and receive e-mail.
In addition to serving individuals, ISPs also serve large companies, providing a direct connection from the company's networks to the Internet. ISPs themselves are connected to one another through Network Access Points (NAPs). ISPs are also called IAPs (Internet Access Providers).
JAVA- A high-level programming language developed by Sun Microsystems. Java was originally called OAK, and was designed for handheld devices and set-top boxes. Oak was unsuccessful so in 1995 Sun changed the name to Java and modified the language to take advantage of the burgeoning World Wide Web.
Java is an object-oriented language similar to C++, but simplified to eliminate language features that cause common programming errors. Java source code files (files with a .java extension) are compiled into a format called bytecode (files with a .class extension), which can then be executed by a Java interpreter. Compiled Java code can run on most computers because Java interpreters and runtime environments, known as Java Virtual Machines (VMs), exist for most operating systems, including UNIX, the Macintosh OS, and Windows. Bytecode can also be converted directly into machine language instructions by a just-in-time compiler (JIT).
Java is a general purpose programming language with a number of features that make the language well suited for use on the World Wide Web. Small Java applications are called Java applets and can be downloaded from a Web server and run on your computer by a Java-compatible Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.
JavaScript- This is a language very close to Java that allows for more interaction with the viewer. It is much more forgiving than Java as doesn't require it's own window in which to work.
JPEG- Pronounced "J-Peg." Stands for Joint Photographic Experts Group. It's an image format that allows for compression when stored.
Jumpers- A metal bridge that closes an electrical circuit. Typically, a jumper consists of a plastic plug that fits over a pair of protruding pins. Jumpers are sometimes used to configure expansion boards. By placing a jumper plug over a different set of pins, you can change a board's parameters.
K56Flex- (A technology developed by Lucent Technologies and Rockwell International for delivering data rates up to 56 Kbps over plain old telephone service (POTS). It was long believed that the maximum data transmission rate over copper telephone wires was 33.6 Kbps, but K56flex achieves higher rates by taking advantage of the fact that most phone switching stations are connected by high-speed digital lines. K56flex bypasses the normal digital-to-analog conversion and sends the digital data over the telephone wires directly to your modem where it is decoded.
Lucent and Rockwell have announced that future K56flex modems will conform to the new V.90 standard approved by the ITU. And users with older K56flex modems may upgrade their modems to support V.90.
While K56flex offers faster Internet access than normal modems, there are several caveats to using an K56flex modem:
- The high speeds are available only with downstream traffic (e.g., data sent to your computer). Upstream traffic is delivered using normal techniques, with a maximum speed of 33.6 Kbps.
- To connect to the Internet at K56flex speeds, your Internet Service Provider (ISP) must have a modem at the other end that supports V.90.
- Even if your ISP supports V.90, you might not achieve maximum transmission rates due to noisy lines.
Kbit/s- Stands for thousands of bits per second.
Kernel- The central module of an operating system. It is the part of the operating system that loads first, and it remains in main memory. Because it stays in memory, it is important for the kernel to be as small as possible while still providing all the essential services required by other parts of the operating system and applications. Typically, the kernel is responsible for memory management, process and task management, and disk management.
Kilobyte: (KB) - This is about a thousand bytes of space. In reality, it's two to the 10th power or 1,024 bytes.
KVM- Keyboard-Video-Mouse switch. A piece of hardware that connects two or more computers to a single keyboard, monitor and mouse. Imagine you have a row of 4 computers that all serve as file servers. Why waste money buying 4 monitors, 4 keyboards and 4 mice. With a KVM switch you can connect all 4 computers to one monitor, keyboard and mouse and to switch between them when needed.
Source: "The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, http://www.foldoc.org/, Editor Denis Howe"
|
Our Methodology