NETWORDS FOR NEWBIES
posted 25th Nov 99

Illustration: Clara Graydon-Guy

Cracker
A cracker is the same thing as a hacker, except the hacker only explores other peoples computers and the cracker destroys stuff once in there.

Cyberspace
The Internet. William Gibson coined this phrase in 1984 science fiction book "Neuromancer".

Digital
A language able to be read, written and stored on an electronic device/appliance. A language that has only two letters; 0 and 1 and hence is called a binary language

Domain Name
The name of the web site or email address. The "pl" part of www.pl.net is the domain name. If you want to register your own domain name PlaNet can do that for you. The alternative highest level domain names (the net part of ww.pl.net or fred@pl.net) are .co.nz, .com, .st

Download
The transfer of information from the Internet to your computer. You can download web pages, email, or programs. If you download software or pictures, make sure that you have a good virus checker running in the background.

E-mail
Electronic-mail. A few years ago we could only send and receive mail over the Internet. Today, we can send not only messages, but online greeting cards, pictures of the family and even video and audio.

FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions is a mini-help file. It is an excellent place to go when you first get to a site to understand more of that site, product or service.

File
A unit of text or a programme or a picture that has a name given to it, hence file name, and is stored in the language a computer understand..digital language (see above)

FTP
File Transfer Protocol, the language used to move a file (see above) from one computer to another using the Internet

Modem
A small electronic appliance inside (internal card) or outside (external) a computer that gives the computer the ability to use a phone line to make a connection with the Internet

Newbie
A person who has just recently started using the Internet

Online
A computer that has successfully made a connection to the Internet by using a modem or by a cable connected to another computer already on the Internet

Portal
A website (see below) that professes to be a one-stop center for all your online needs

URL
Unique Resource Locator, or in simple terms, the Internet address of a website (see below). Eg www.pl.net is the url of pl.net online magazine and portal (see above)

Website
What's at the end of a url. What you see when you tell your online computer to go look at a web address like http://www.pl.net

WWW
With the introduction of the World Wide Web (WWW), the original name for the http language (eg http://www.pl.net), called in full HyperText Transfer Protocol. The first Internet language that allowed users to see pictures and make jumps - links - to other pictures and text. People like pictures, so now the WWW has been equated with the whole Internet and is called simply `The Web'. Programmes that allow you to view websites online are called web browsers (eg Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer..MSIE)