AP Comp Sci Principles Internet Terms

Web Server

A Web server is a computer system that hosts websites. It runs Web server software, such as Apache or Microsoft IIS, which provides access to hosted webpages over the Internet. Most Web servers are connected to the Internet via a high-speed connection, offering OC-3 or faster data transmission rates. A fast Internet connection allows Web servers to support multiple connections at one time without slowing down.

Port

An Internet port. This is a number that indicates what kind of protocol a server on the Internet is using. For example, Web servers typically are listed on port 80. Web browsers use this port by default when accessing Web pages, but you can also specify what port you would like to use in the URL like this: http://www.excite.com:80. FTP uses port 21, e-mail uses port 25, and game servers, like a Quake server or Blizzard.net use various other ports. It is good to know what a port is, but you seldom have to specify it manually, so don't worry if this is new to you. A hardware port. This refers to any one of the ports that are on the back of a computer where devices can be hooked up (like a keyboard, mouse, printer, digital camera, etc). Some common ports found on today's computers are USB, Firewire, and Ethernet.

HTML5

HTML5 is the fifth major standard of HTML. Development of the standard began in 2007 and HTML5 websites started becoming mainstream in 2010. The final HTML5 standard was officially standardized by W3C on October 28, 2014.

Web Host

In order to publish a website online, you need a Web host. The Web host stores all the pages of your website and makes them available to computers connected to the Internet. The domain name, such as "sony.com," is actually linked to an IP address that points to a specific computer. When somebody enters your domain name into their browser's address field, the IP address is located and Web site is loaded from your Web host

Javascript

JavaScript is a programming language commonly used in web development. It was originally developed by Netscape as a means to add dynamic and interactive elements to websites. While JavaScript is influenced by Java, the syntax is more similar to C and is based on ECMAScript, a scripting language developed by Sun Microsystems. JavaScript is a client-side scripting language, which means the source code is processed by the client's web browser rather than on the web server. This means JavaScript functions can run after a webpage has loaded without communicating with the server.

CSS

Stands for "Cascading Style Sheet." Cascading style sheets are used to format the layout of Web pages. They can be used to define text styles, table sizes, and other aspects of Web pages that previously could only be defined in a page's HTML.

XHTML

Stands for "Extensible Hypertext Markup Language." Yes, apparently "Extensible" starts with an "X." XHTML is a spinoff of the hypertext markup language (HTML) used for creating Web pages. It is based on the HTML 4.0 syntax, but has been modified to follow the guidelines of XML, the Extensible Markup Language. Therefore, XHTML 1.0 is sometimes referred to as HTML 5.0.

HTTPS

Stands for "HyperText Transport Protocol Secure." HTTPS is the same thing as HTTP, but uses a secure socket layer (SSL) for security purposes. Some examples of sites that use HTTPS include banking and investment websites, e-commerce websites, and most websites that require you to log in.

HTML

Stands for "Hypertext Markup Language." HTML is the language used to create webpages. "Hypertext" refers to the hyperlinks that an HTML page may contain. "Markup language" refers to the way tags are used to define the page layout and elements within the page.

HTTP

Stands for "Hypertext Transfer Protocol." HTTP is the protocol used to transfer data over the web. It is part of the Internet protocol suite and defines commands and services used for transmitting webpage data.

W3C

Stands for "World Wide Web Consortium." The W3C is an international community that includes a full-time staff, industry experts, and several member organizations. These groups work together to develop standards for the World Wide Web.

WWW

Stands for "World Wide Web." The Web consists of pages that can be accessed using a Web browser. The Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the method used to transfer Web pages to your computer. With hypertext, a word or phrase can contain a link to another Web site. All Web pages are written in the hyper-text markup language (HTML), which works in conjunction with HTTP.

Internet

The Internet is a global wide area network that connects computer systems across the world. It includes several high-bandwidth data lines that comprise the Internet "backbone." These lines are connected to major Internet hubs that distribute data to other locations, such as web servers and ISPs.

Web Development

Web development refers to building, creating, and an maintaining websites. It includes aspects such as web design, web publishing, web programming, and database management.

Protocol

When computers communicate with each other, there needs to be a common set of rules and instructions that each computer follows. A specific set of communication rules is called a protocol. Because of the many ways computers can communicate with each other, there are many different protocols -- too many for the average person to remember. Some examples of these different protocols include PPP, TCP/IP, SLIP, HTTP, and FTP. Can you guess what the last "P" in each acronym stands for? If you guessed "protocol," send yourself a congratulations e-mail.