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Computer Networks

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Term
Definition
computer network   two or more computers connected via communication devices and media  
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Internet   a collection of networks that link billions of businesses, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals  
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NPL   British network  
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ARPANET   US network  
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CYCLADES   French network  
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World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)   oversees research and sets standards and guidelines  
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Internet 2 (I2)   develops and tests advanced Internet technologies  
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Internet Service Provider (ISP)   company that provides access to the Internet to users or subscribers of its service  
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Tier 1   very high capacity WANs operated by very large telecom companies  
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Tier 2   regional WANs operated by large telecom companies  
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Local Access ISPs   smaller WANs  
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dial-up access   for connecting to the Internet; home or business; computer, modem regular telephone line  
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high speed access   for connecting to the Internet; home or business; digital subscriber line  
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World Wide Web   an information space of the Internet where electronic documents are identified by URL and interlinked by hyperlinks  
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web browser   addition to ISP; software application that allows you to access and view web pages via their URL  
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search engine   software program that searches for information on the web  
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web crawler   a bot that constantly browses web sites to update an index  
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Personal Area Network (PAN)   phone and headset size network  
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Local Area Network (LAN)   a single building/campus network  
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Metropolitan Area Network (MAN)   a community/city network  
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Wide Area Network (WAN)   cities/countries network  
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star topology   computers are connected to a central computer; all communications must go through the central computer; basis for most Wifi networks  
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bus topology   all computers on the network can communicate with each other; Ethernet networks use this  
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hub   small bus with several inputs connecting computers in a small area to the bus network  
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repeater   device to connect two bus networks; amplifies signals  
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bridge   device to connect two bus networks; any signals intended for a computer on the origin side are returned; only signals mean too r computer on the other side of the bridge are passed through; more efficient than repeater for big networks  
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switch   like a bridge but it connects more than 2 bus networks  
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router   a computer for connecting incompatible networks  
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twisted-pair wire   regular phone lines; simplest and slowest  
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coaxial cable   standard cable lines; copper wires surrounded by thick insulation  
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fiber optics   fast, accurate, durable; electrons translated into light pulses; insanely expensive  
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Client/Server Model   clients make requests; device on network is considered a server and other networks are considered clients; servers satisfy the requests of clients  
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Peer to Peer (P2P) Model   devices on network provide service to and receive services from each other  
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distributed systems   type of network communication; programs that are executed on different computers  
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Cluster Computing   many independent computers work together to provide computating services comparable to a larger coputer  
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Grid Computer   members of grid volunteer their computing power to the grid while not in use for themselves  
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Cloud Computing   generally owned; huge pools of shared computers can be allocated for use by clients as needed  
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redundancy   additional instances of network devices, equipment, and communications mediums are installed within the network infrastructure to ensure the network availability in case a device fails or is unavailable  
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latency   amount of time a signal takes to traverse a network  
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sensor network   devices distributed throughout a network to monitor environmental conditions like temperature, pressure, sound, etc.  
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Network Interface Cards (NICs)   expansion card to connect to Ethernet  
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Bluetooth   a type of short range wireless interconnection  
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bandwidth   bit-rate of available information capacity  
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Internet Protocol (IP)   manages how data travels on the Internet  
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IPv4   current 32 bit IP address format; allows for roughly 4 billion unique addresses  
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IPv6   multi-year transition to 128-bit IP address format happening right now  
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routers   devices on Internet to keep packets moving; chooses best path to take at each intersection  
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Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)    
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scalable   work with small and large networks  
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redundant   have repeated elements  
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fault tolerant   because of redundancy, networks won't collapse when part of it breaks down  
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web page   electronic document; must follow HTTP protocol  
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World Wide Web   collection of web pages  
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website   collection of related web pages  
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hyperlinks   built-in connections to other documents  
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Domain Name System (DNS)   associates text names with device IP addresses  
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DNS Servers   connect to Internet setup in a hierarchy to store and look up IP addresses  
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DNS spoofing   when a hacker breaks into a DNS server and assigns the wrong IP address to a domain name; sends web page users to an imposter website when they are vulnerable  
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registrars   agencies assigned by ICANN  
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Top Level Domain (TLD)   suffix ont he end of a domain name  
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sub domains   user that registers a domain name can extend that name to obtain identifiers for items that belong to that domain  
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Hypertext Markup Language (HTML)   programming language used to created documents to be displayed on the web  
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Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)   style definitions used in HTML  
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Java Applets   programs embedded into an HTML document  
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Java Server Pages (JSP)   small pieces of executable code intertwined with traditional HTML content that are executed by the computer hosting the web page  
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information security   the protection of data (information)  
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confidentiality   prevents your personal data from being leaked  
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data integrity   makes sure only certain people/software have access to change data  
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malware   malicious software transferred to/executed on a computer  
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virus   inserts itself into existing programs to corrupt data  
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worms   autonomous program forwards itself to other computers  
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Trojan Horses   enters disguised as harmless program  
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spyware/sniffing software   collections info about computer activities and reports back to instigator  
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phishing   obtaining into from victim and pretending to be benign  
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Denial of Service (DoS)   overloads a computer with messages to distort activity  
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spoofing   a computer pretending to be another computer by faking its IP address  
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spam   unwanted junk email; not generally malicious  
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firewall   network software that blocks dangerous/inappropriate messages from going in or out  
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proxy server   limits access; software between client and server shielding client from harmful actions of the server  
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antivirus software   software to detect and remove viruses and/or spyware  
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spam filter   firewall intended to block unwanted mail; learns to identify spam by users reactions  
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passwords   controls access to network but not data once it leaves the network  
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encryption   coding and decoding messages so that if they are intercepted they cannot be interpreted  
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symmetric encryption   sender and receiver have to have same encryption code  
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public key encryption   public and private keys; public= always to send; private = opens  
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digital certificates   used by to ensure website downloading is actually a secure website  
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CAPTCHA   software to verify that a web form is submitted by a human not a machine  
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intellectual property   original work to which one has the rights and for which one may apply for a patent, copyright or trademark  
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copyright   the exclusive legal right to print, publish, sell, etc. the expression of an idea and authorize others to do the same  
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patent   for inventions  
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trademark   for identifiers like company names and logos  
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World Intellectual Property Organization   an agency of the United Nations to promote and protect intellectual property  
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Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA)   a 1998 US copyright law intended to protect the rights of both the copyright owners and consumers which are usually in conflict  
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Creative Commons License   license that enables free distribution of copyrighted work; owner sets up rules for the sharing of and building upon their work  
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Open Source Software   license for software that makes the source code available for others to study, change, and distribute for any purpose; encourages a collaborative environment  
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Crowd Sourcing   getting input or information from a large number of people, paid or unpaid  
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Citizen Science   when professional scientists and people from the general public collaborate on specific studies  
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net neutrality   the principle that Internet service providers and governments regulating the Internet should treat all data on the Internet the same, not discriminating or charging differentially  
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