Web Terms M - R

A - F  ||   G - L   ||   S - Z

M | N | O | P | Q | R

M

machine -- Commonly used for "computer". 


machine language -- A program in the form of a series of binary codes that are understandable by the CPU. 99.9% of the time programmers write their code in another "higher level" programming language which in turn translates their code into machine language. 


mailbomb -- The act of sending massive amounts of email to a single address with the malicious intent of disrupting the system of the recipient. Mailbombing is considered a serious breach of Netiquette and is probably illegal. 


mailing list -- A discussion group that occurs via mass email distributions. Mailing lists are usually maintained by individuals utilizing list server software. List servers maintain a list of email addresses to be used for the mailing list. Subscribing and unsubscribing to the list is accomplished by sending a properly formatted email message to the list server. There are two types of mailing lists: moderated and unmoderated. To send a message to an unmoderated list, you email it to the list server which automatically emails your message to every name on the list. To send a message to a moderated list, you email it to the mailing list's moderator who would then send it on to the list server for distribution. 


mainframe -- A high-level computer designed for intensive computational tasks and used by large corporations. Mainframes are often shared by multiple users connected to the computer via terminals. Originally refers to the cabinet containing the CPU of a room-sized batch-processing machine. 


matrix -- A superset of the Internet that includes all networks and computers that can exchange email. 


Mbone -- See Multicast Backbone. 


meltdown -- A state of complete network overload that grinds all traffic to a halt. 


menu -- A list of options, each of which performs a desired action such as choosing a command or applying a particular format to a part of a document. Menu's are commonly used in graphical interfaces. 


message header -- The information at the beginning of an email or bulletin board message. Message headers contain the identities of the author and recipients, the subject of the message, and the date the message was sent. 


MIME -- See Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions. 


mirror site -- A server which contains a duplicate of another WWW or FTP site. Mirror sites are created when the traffic on the original site becomes too heavy for a single server. Often mirror sites are located in different geographic areas allowing users to choose the site closest to them. 


mission critical -- Indispensable. Usually describes applications such as databases or process control software that are deemed essential to a company's operation and that typically run on mainframes or workstation rather than on personal computers. A nuclear power plant's operator console software is mission critical. 


modem -- A device that enables a computer to send and receive information over a telephone line. Internal modems are circuit cards that are plugged straight into the computer's motherboard. External modems are small electronic boxes attached to the serial port with a cable. 


modem mantra -- The sound a modem makes while connecting with another modem. 
"Ennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn . . . . 
beepboopbeepbopboopbeepbopboop . . . . 
brrrrrrrrrring . . . . < click > 
Screeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! 
ChrunchBeCrackleBeChrunch . . . ." 


moderator -- A person or small group of people who manage a mailing list or newsgroup. Moderators determine which messages can be seen by the entire group. See also mailing list. 


mods -- Hacker slang for modifcations to hardware or software, especially bug fixes or minor design changes. 


moof -- When you get disconnected from the Internet for no apparent reason, it's common to blame the Moof monster. For example, when returning to a chat after being unintentionally disconnected, you can tell your cyberbuddies, "Sorry I left so suddenly, I got moofed!" 


MorF? -- Abbreviation of "Male of Female?" 


Mosaic -- The original WWW browser developed at University of Illinois. Mosaic has been superceded by commercial browsers like Netscape Navigator. 


MUD -- See Multi-User Dungeon. 


Multi-User Dungeon -- (abbreviation: MUD) 
An online fantasy role-playing game environment that takes place in telnet sessions. MUDs occur in text mode -- similar to a chat environment -- where the players assume the identities of fictional characters and follow a series of rules which guide the adventure. 


Multicast Backbone -- (abbreviation: Mbone) 
A high speed network protocol used to broadcast audio and video over the Internet. 


Multimedia Gulch -- The South of Market area of San Francisco where many Internet development firms are located. 


multiplexor -- A complex piece of telephone equipment which combines the data stream of several leased lines for transmission over a single higher bandwidth leased line. Multiplexors are used in the construction of WANs. 


Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions -- (abbreviation: MIME) 
An extension to Internet email which provides the ability to transfer non-textual data, such as graphics, audio and fax. 


multitasking -- 1. A mode of operation offered by an operating system in which a computer works on more than one task or application at a time. 
2. Also can describe people who excel at juggling several tasks at once, as opposed to those who work from task to task in a linear fashion

N

nanosecond -- A measurement of time. There are 1,000,000,000 nanoseconds in a second. 


nastygram -- A disapproving or flaming piece of email. 


Navigator -- A web browser application from Netscape. 


NDA -- See Non-Disclosure Agreement. 


Netiquette -- Network etiquette, or the set of informal rules of behavior that have evolved in Cyberspace, including the Internet and online services. 


netlag -- A condition that occurs on the Internet in which response time is greatly slowed due to heavy traffic. 


netnews -- The content of USENET. See also USENET. 


network -- A group of computers or devices that are connected together for the exchange of data and sharing of resources. 


net.god -- An individual who has achieved an exulted status due to notable technical accomplishments. This accolade is most frequently applied to those who have played a role in creating and developing USENET or the Internet. 


net lingo -- The slang commonly used on the Internet. 


net.police -- Those who feel it's their appointed role to flame perceived violations of Netiquette. 


net surfing -- Browsing or exploring a network or the World Wide Web to find places of interest, usually without a specific goal in mind. Analogous to channel surfing with a TV remote control. 


newbie -- A network newcomer, one who is new to the world of online communications. Sometimes used incorrectly as a pejorative term, as in "clueless newbie." See also power newbie and knowbie. 


newsgroup -- A public place where messages are posted for public consumption and response. The most available distribution of newsgroups is USENET which contains over ten thousand unique newsgroups covering practically every human proclivity. The names of newsgroups are comprised of a string of words separated by periods, such as "rec.humor.funny" or "misc.jobs.offered". The first word (i.e. "rec" or "misc") represents the top level category of newsgroups. The second word (in these examples "humor" and "jobs") represents a subcategory of the first level, and the third word a subcategory of the second. 


Non-Disclosure Agreement -- (abbreviation: NDA) 
A contract commonly used by computer companies to protect the confidentiality of unreleased products. Software developers, reporters, and sometimes beta testers are often required to sign these before they are given access to either information about upcoming products or the product itself. 


NSFnet -- One of the Internet's primary backbone networks. 


nuke -- To intentionally delete the entire contents of a given directory, hard drive, or storage volume. 

O

objects -- In programming terminology, a freestanding chunk of code that defines the properties of some thing. For example, this Netdictionary applet is an object that contains button objects, scrolling list objects, window objects, URL objects, definition objects, etc. Not all programming languages use this object model; the ones that do are said to be object-oriented. 


Object Oriented Programming -- (abbreviation: OOP) 
A style of computer programming which entails building of independent pieces of code which interact with each other. For example, JAVA and C++ are object oriented programming languages. 


offline -- 1. As an adjective, not connected to a computer network. 
2. As an adverb, not here or not now, as in "Let's take this discussion offline." Often used to indicate that a topic should be discussed privately rather than in a public forum. 


online -- 1. Currently connected to a host, opposite of offline. 
2. Referring to anything connected to a computer network. 


OOP -- See Object Oriented Programming. 


operating system -- The master set of programs responsible for overseeing the basic hardware resources of a computer such as disks, memory, keyboard, screen, and CPU time. UNIX, DOS, Windows, Macintosh System 7, and IBMs VM are examples of operating systems. 


orthogonal -- In mathematics, relating to or composed of right angles. Generalized to mean independent of , separate from, or irrelevant to. For example, a message about the weather in Nebraska might be orthogonal to a discussion of the Java programming language. 


outbox -- A folder where you store mail before it about to be sent. 

P

packet -- A unit of data sent across a network. When a large block of data is to be sent over a network, it is broken up into several packets, sent, and the reassembled at the other end. Packets often include checksum codes to detect transmission errors. The exact layout of an individual packet is determined by the protocol being used. 


packet sniffing -- The intentional and usually illegal act of intercepting packets of data being transmitted over the Internet and searching them for information. 


parse -- To search through a stream of text and either break it up into useful chunks of information or reformat it in some other manner. 


password -- A secret code that you utilize along with your user ID in order to log on to a network. 


path -- The hierarchical description of where a directory, folder, or file is located on your computer or on a network 


PC -- See personal computer. 


Perl -- A programming language whose acronym stands for "Practical Extraction and Report Language". Perl is a powerful, yet unstructured language that is especially good for writing quick and dirty programs that process text files. Because of these abilities, Perl is a common choice of programmers for writing CGI scripts to automate input and output from web pages. Perl was invented in 1986 by Larry Wall and is available to anyone at no charge. 
Here is the Perl version of "Hello World!": 
print "Hello World\n"; 


personal computer -- (abbreviation: PC) 
The original personal computer model introduced by IBM in 1981. Because IBM was late to enter the desktop computer field, it created the PC with an "open architecture" so that it could compete with the then popular Apple II computers. This open architecture meant that any computer manufacturer could legally manufacture PC-compatible machines that could run the same software as IBM's PC. Since IBM purchased its CPU chips from Intel and its operating system (DOS) from Microsoft, makers of PC-compatibles (called clones at the time) were able to utilize the same chips and OS as IBM. As a result, PCs became the most popular home computer, IBM's fortunes dropped, and Microsoft and Intel became the multi-million dollar companies that they are today. Current popular usage of the term PC refers to both IBM produced personal computers and PC-compatible computers produced by other manufacturers. 


PGP -- See Pretty Good Privacy. 


PING -- Abbreviation for Packet InterNet Groper. A connection testing program that sends a self-returning packet to a host and times how long it takes to return. 


plug-ins -- Third party add-on software that adds new features to a commercial application. Many companies have written plug-ins for Netscape Navigator. 


Point of Presence -- (abbreviation: POP) 
A site that has a collection of telecommunications equipment, usually refers to ISP or telephone company sites. 


Point-to-Point Protocol -- (abbreviation: PPP) 
A protocol used by TCP/IP routers and PCs to send packets over dial-up and leased-line connections. 


POP -- See Point of Presence. 


post -- To send a message to a public area like a BBS or newsgroup where it can be read by many others. 


postmaster -- The name given to the person in charge of administrating email for a particular site. According to convention, mail sent to postmaster@foo.com should be read by a real live person. 


power newbie -- An enthusiastic newbie (network newcomer) who takes advantage of educational resources in an effort to become a knowbie. Power newbies share their knowledge with other newbies both face-to-face and in bulletin boards and chat rooms. See also newbie and knowbie. 


PPP -- See Point-to-Point Protocol. 


Pretty Good Privacy -- (abbreviation: PGP) 
A program, developed by Phil Zimmerman, that uses cryptography to protect files and electronic mail from being read by others. PGP also includes a feature which allows users to digitally "sign" a document or message, in order to provide non-forgable proof of authorship. 


Prodigy -- A commerical online service. 


program -- A series of instructions that tell a computer what to do. Also to create or revise a program. 


programming language -- A computer language that programmers utilize to create programs. C, Perl, Java, BASIC, and COBOL are examples of programming languages. In essence, programming languages are translators that take words and symbols and convert them to binary codes that the CPU can understand. See also BASIC, C, and Java. 


protocol -- A series of rules and conventions that allow different kinds of computers and applications to communicate over a network. 

Q

query -- 1. A general question posed to a person or group over the Internet. Internet users are generally so helpful that if one asks an appropriate query to the correct discussion group, one will often receive many useful responses. One caveat: it is necessary to find and read the appropriate FAQ document first. Failure to do so would be considered a waste other people's time and bandwidth. 
2. A request for specific information from a database. 


queue -- A sequence of items such as packets or print jobs waiting to be processed. For example, a print queue holds files that are waiting to be printed. 

R

RAM -- See random access memory. 


random access memory -- (abbreviation: RAM) 
The working memory of the computer into which application programs can be loaded and executed. It helps to have more of this "working space" installed when running advanced operating systems and applications. 


README file -- 1. A text file included with an application that contains important (and often last minute) information about installing and using the application. 
2. A text file on an FTP site that provides valuable information about the context of site. 
3. Any text file that you are supposed to read before proceeding. 


read receipts -- An optional email feature that notifies you when a recipient has opened the email message you sent him. See also delivery receipts. 


Real Soon Now -- Whenever one's previous time commitments allow. A phrase used to indicate that a feature or program will be available sometime between the near-future and the distant-future. 


recursive -- A software procedure that calls itself. 


refresh -- To clear the screen or part of the screen and redraw it again. 


remote login -- Operating a remote computer over a network as if it were a local computer. This can be accomplished via one of several protocols, including telnet and the UNIX program rlogin. 


render -- To perform the calculations necessary to draw a complex three-dimensional image. 


response time -- A measurement of the time between a request for information over a network and the network's fulfillment of that request. "Overall response time" is an aggregate or average measurement of various response times over a particular network or through a particular host. 


RFC -- Abbreviation for Request for Comment. One of a long-established series of informal informational documents and standards that guide the development of the Internet. The most famous is RFC 822, the Internet mail standard drafted by Dave Crocker. 


Rich Text Format -- (abbreviation: RTF) 
A format for text documents that includes formatting attributes, such as different fonts and typefaces. 


root -- The administrative user account on a UNIX system that can bypass security controls. Sysadmins will log in as root when they need to perform tasks such as modifying system files, creating new user accounts, or setting up new services. The root account is also known as the superuser account. Root passwords are closely guarded by security-conscious syadmins. See also sysadmin. 


root directory -- The top level in a hierarchical file system. For example on a PC, the root directory of your C: drive contains all the second-level subdirectories on that drive. 


ROTFL -- Abbreviation for Rolling On The Floor Laughing. 


router -- A computer that directs traffic and moves packets between networks. 


RSN -- Abbreviation for Real Soon Now. 


RTF -- See Rich Text Format.