HTTP, FTP, WWW and Other Letter Combinations
Ever speak to someone and discover that you don't understand half the things they're saying? Communication is hard enough when there's a single disconnect between a sender of a message and the receiver of that message - but technology adds a third communicative component to the equation.
The three entities involved are the learner, the teacher and the technician. This triad can also take different forms - for example, student (learner), teacher (instructor who is expected to infuse technology into the curriculum) and the technician (the instructional technologist at the school or district). Or, taking it to the next level, the teacher (learner), the instructional technologist (the person bringing new technology resources to instructors) and the technician (those technical folks that you encounter when you call a help desk in another city for a computer problem you're experiencing). Since language is an important part of effective communication, it always helps to have a reference point for terms that are new to a learner. (If you'd like an exercise in the necessity of a lexicon, read "A Clockwork Orange.") Here are some computer-oriented terms to help you know what these groupings of letters mean.
b bit - a unit of information
B byte - 8 bits
Mbps Megabits per second (a megabit is equal to one million bits). Refers to tranmission speed. Storage capacity is measured in bytes (B), such as MB (equal to one million bytes, or 8 million bits)
Kbps Kilobits per second (1,000 bits per second). Also refers to transmission speed. Storage capacity is measured in bytes (B), such as KB (equal to one thousand bytes, or 8 thousand bits).
Packets Collections of data
Protocol An agreed-upon format for transmitting data between two devices
IP Internet Protocal - IP specifies the format of packets, also called datagrams. It's like a postal system - computers use it to address information from one computer to another, but needs TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) to establish contact with another host/computer.
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. TCP enables two hosts/computers to establish a connection and exchange streams of data (that is, bits of information that are transmitted in order), while IP deals only with packets (information that's broken up into collections of data).
IP Address An identifier for a computer or device on a TCP/IP network. The format is a 32-bit numeric address written as four numbers separated by periods. Each number can be 0 to 255, e.g. 1.160.10.240. These numbers connect to a portion of a networked server, or Web space. Rather than remembering the numbers, however, domain names are used to connect to these Web spaces and access the files contained within them.
Domain names A series of abbreviations, terms and extensions that have been created to allow IP addresses to be remembered as alphanumeric representations rather than a series of numbers.
ISP Internet Service Provider - a company whose services enable computer users to connect to the Internet.
POP Post Office Protocol - This protocol is used to retrieve email from a mail server. There are two types: POP2 (mid 1980s) and POP3. POP2 requires SMTP to send messages.
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol: a particular “type” of protocol for sending email messages between servers.
T-1 A dedicated phone connection supporting date rates of 1.544 Mbits per seconds. Consists of 24 actual channels—each supports 64 Kbits per second.
T-3 A dedicated phone connection supporting data rates of about 43 Mbps. Consists of 672 channels. Mainly used by ISPs (internet service providers).
URL Uniform Resource Locator: the global address of documents and other items on the WWW. First part indicates protocol; second part the IP address (i.e., http:// and www.instrumediatech.com). We commonly call these "Web addresses," which have now become known as Web site names or domain names.
FTP File transfer protocol: used to upload files or folders form a workstation to an FTP server or download files form an FTP server to a workstation. Dialogical (two-one) transmission.
HTTP Hyper Text Transfer Protocol: used to transfer files from a web server onto a browser in order to view a web page. A type of monological transmission. Information flows only one way - from Web spaces and Web servers to your computer's Internet browser (also known as "download"). Although it may seem you can "upload" some types of information, a file transfer protocol (FTP) service can be embedded into a Web page to enable that to happen.
SQL An ANSI (American National Standards Institute) standard computer language for accessing and manipulating database systems. SQL statements are used to retrieve and update data in a database. SQL works with database programs like MS Access, DB2, Informix, MS SQL Server, Oracle, Sybase, etc. Unfortunately, there are many different versions of the SQL language, but to be in compliance with the ANSI standard, they must support the same major keywords in a similar manner (such as SELECT, UPDATE, DELETE, INSERT, WHERE, and others), but most SQL database programs also have their own proprietary extensions.
Internet The largest network of computers in the world. There are other networks of computers, but if they are not connected to the Internet, they can only share information among themselves. These networks are calls LANs (Local Area Networks) if they're localized, and WANs (Wide Area Networks) if they are spread out over a larger geographical region. LANs and WANs can be connected to the Internet to communicate with other LANs and WANs.
WWW The World Wide Web - a network (one of the largest) on the Internet.
© Michael V. Ziemski, Instrumediatech, 2008 (Original Publication Date: 20080218)
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