Glossary of Terms

A (Address) Record
Address records assign a hostname (e.g.: support.example.com) to a specific IP address (e.g.: 123.123.123.123).

Access
Refers to the database program "Microsoft Access", also called Jet Database.

Active Server Pages (ASP)
ASP stands for Active Server Pages. ASP is a technology developed by Microsoft that allows developers to deliver dynamic content that is viewable in virtually any browser. Developers can use the scripting language of their choice to give their Web site ability to create pages on-the-fly, access databases, send email, and much more. An ASP may contain a mix HTML and ASP script. When an ASP is requested, the server proccesses all of the ASP script and delivers a page in plain HTML to the end-user.

ADSL
A technology that allows more data to be sent over existing copper telephone lines (POTS). ADSL supports data rates of from 1.5 to 9 Mbps when receiving data (known as the downstream rate) and from 16 to 640 Kbps when sending data (known as the upstream rate). ADSL requires a special ADSL modem. It is not currently available to the general public except in trial areas, but many believe that it will be one of the more popular choices for Internet access over the next few years.

Alias
An alias is an email address that forwards its mail to a specified mailbox, masking the true name of the mailbox in which the mail is actually received. For example, Sales@JoesDomain.com could be an alias for Joe1234@aol.com.

Analog
This word is often used to denote the opposite of digital. Loosely, it means the measuring of data on more physical grounds, as opposed to the more electronic or "wired" state of digital.

Anonymous
The means that allow a person to connect to an FTP site, search through available files, and download any file, document or program without having to establish a userID and/or password on the system where the material resides.

Anonymous FTP
An Internet File Transfer Protocol (FTP) option that allows you to let others onto your Web site to download files that you have made available, without first establishing an account. Most FTP servers are set up to allow a limited amount of anonymous FTP users to log in at the same time, and only provide access to designated files.

Apache
A popular Web server. By some estimates, it is used to host more than 50% of all Web sites in the world. The original version of Apache was written for UNIX, but there are now versions that run under OS/2, Windows and other platforms.

Applet
A mini-program that can be downloaded quickly and used by any computer equipped with a Java- or ActiveX-capable browser. Applets carry their own software players

ARPANET
The precursor to the Internet. Developed in the late 60's and early 70's by the U.S. Department of Defense as an experiment in wide-area-networking that would survive a nuclear war.

ASCII editor
An ASCII (plain text) editor is the opposite of a WYSIWYG editor. In other words you do not see how your page will look immediately. You program the page using hypertext codes that create the page. The greater your understanding of HTML, the better your Web sites will look. Many professional Web developers use ASCII editors for the absolute complete control they gain over the Web site. With an ASCII editor, there is no room for interpretation. However, as the popularity of WYSIWYG editors becomes greater, ASCII editors grow lesser. Any ASCII text editor, including Windows Notepad, can be used to create a Web page. In fact, all that a WYSIWYG editor does is interpret where you place items into HTML code. Many ASCII editors rely on you to upload the files to your Web server using an FTP program, though a few have built in publishing tools.

Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM)
ATM or Asynchronous Transfer Mode,is a cell relay data link layer protocol which encodes data traffic into small (53 byte; 48 bytes of data and 5 bytes of header information) fixed-sized cells. This is instead of variable sized packets (sometimes known as frames) as in packet-switched networks (such as the Internet Protocol or Ethernet). ATM is a connection-oriented technology, in which a connection is established between the two endpoints before the actual data exchange begins.

Autoresponder
An Auto-Responder is an automated program that sends pre-written responses to all messages that arrive at a specified alias. Auto-Responders can be very useful as a means of providing information about your business, or they can be used to simply confirm that a message has been received. You can use Auto-Responders with as many aliases on your mail server as you wish, and each one can be set up to return a different message.