ISP Glossary, Glossary ISP |
| n-tuple - Pronounced "en-too-pull." This is a mathematical term for a finite sequence of n terms. For example, the set {1, 2, 3, 4} is a four-tuple. The set {Frank,... |
| N-Way - A method of multiprocessing where each processor runs separate tasks with no special programming required. This is different from SMP, where one task can... |
| Nagware - This is shareware that has screens that pop up and require you to press a button or wait an amount of time. These nag screens go away after you pay for... |
| NAK - The opposite of ACK. NAK is a slang term that means that you disagree, or do not acknowledge something. This also refers to the 21st ASCII character. |
| Nameserver - A server that runs Domain Name Services. |
| Nanometer - One billionth of a meter or 1/1,000,000,000 meters. See also Micron. |
| Nanosecond - One billionth of a second. Used most often to measure the speed of memory. |
| Nanotechnology - The purposeful manipulation of matter at the atomic level to achieve a defined goal. Atomic constructs can be measured in nanometers. Someday nanotechnology... |
| NAP - Network Access Point. A point where networks and service providers hand off traffic to each other. NAPs are typically the points with the worst congestion... |
| Napster - The most infamous file swapping utility/company. The Napster client allows you to connect to Napster servers and download MP3 files, or allows your own... |
| Narrow SCSI - The original form of SCSI, using 50 pins and transmitting data at 5MBps. See also Wide SCSI. Drives and adapters that support Narrow SCSI usually have... |
| NAS - The use of specialized devices that function simply as hard drives connected to a network. NAS devices typically consist of one or more hard drives in... |
| NAT - A method that many ISPs use to extend their IP addressing to support more addresses than they own. The interior network uses one addressing scheme, and... |
| National Television Standards Committee - A group that is responsible for setting the standard for broadcast and reception of analog television signals in the United States and Japan. The original... |
| Natural language - This refers to a human language as opposed to a computer language. While computer languages such as C++ or Perl are very structured and are (arguably)... |
| NBSP - An HTML command that is used to display a single text space without a visible character in that space. The format in HTML for this is and it can be used... |
| NDIS - This spec was designed by Microsoft to allow multiple protocols to easily communicate with Network Interface Cards (NICs) without knowing anything about... |
| NDS - First introduced in the NetWare 4.0 network operating system, this is a system designed to make management of large networks easier for administrators.... |
| Nerd - A term coined in the 1980s to describe intelligent but socially inept people. The term is often associated with Bill Gates. It has fallen out of favor... |
| NetBEUI - A transport protocol developed by IBM in 1985 for small and medium networks. It is the underlying foundation of NetBIOS. NetBEUI today can be compared... |
| NetBIOS Extended User Interface - A transport protocol developed by IBM in 1985 for small and medium networks. It is the underlying foundation of NetBIOS. NetBEUI today can be compared... |
| netiquette - Short for net etiquette. The basic principles of courtesy and |
| NetWare - This is a network operating system developed by Novell. NetWare is a closed-source operating system that started life as a 16-bit OS, and moved to 32-bits... |
| Network - A group of interconnected computers. The computers must be capable of transferring data to form a true network--you can't just weld a bunch of computers... |
| Network Address Translation - A method that many ISPs use to extend their IP addressing to support more addresses than they own. The interior network uses one addressing scheme, and... |
| Network Attached Storage - The use of specialized devices that function simply as hard drives connected to a network. NAS devices typically consist of one or more hard drives in... |
| Network Computer - A concept that came from the old days of dumb terminals and was a rehash of this idea promoted largely by Sun Microsystems. Network Computers were supposed... |
| Network Driver Interface Specification - This spec was designed by Microsoft to allow multiple protocols to easily communicate with Network Interface Cards (NICs) without knowing anything about... |
| Network File System - A type of distributed file system that allows NFS servers to give access to their local file system to NFS clients over a network using TCP/IP. The NFS... |
| Network Interface Card - An add-in board that enables a computer to connect to some form of computer network. |
| Network News Transfer Protocol - The protocol that defines communications methods between news servers and news clients. NNTP communications use TCP port 119. The Usenet newsgroups are... |
| Network Operating System - An operating system designed to run across a network. It refers to the operating system that runs on a server, not the client. Network OSes are typically... |
| Network Time Protocol - A protocol running over TCP/IP port 123 that is designed to synchronize clocks on servers. You can have NTP servers and NTP clients. Clients receive time... |
| newbie or newby - A newcomer to the nets, who reveals his or her inexperience by lack of knowledge of net conventions, netiquette, vocabulary, and know-how. |
| newsgroup - See Usenet newsgroups |
| Newsgroups - Also referred to simply as "newsgroups," Usenet newsgroups are a huge bunch of Internet discussion groups that replicate across the Internet every so often.... |
| NFC - Online speak for "No F'ing Clue" |
| NFS - A type of distributed file system that allows NFS servers to give access to their local file system to NFS clients over a network using TCP/IP. The NFS... |
| Nibble - Four bits or half a byte. |
| NIC - Acronym for Network Interface Card, for example, an ethernet card in a network. |
| NLX - A form factor similar to ATX. The difference is that NLX machines contain a riser card into which the other expansion cards are plugged. This allows for... |
| NNTP - The protocol that defines communications methods between news servers and news clients. NNTP communications use TCP port 119. The Usenet newsgroups are... |
| Node - One computer/machine or address on a network. If you managed a network with 10 printers, 50 servers, and 150 client machines, you could say you managed... |
| Non-Breaking Space - An HTML command that is used to display a single text space without a visible character in that space. The format in HTML for this is and it can be used... |
| Non-interlaced - A method of displaying images on a CRT monitor that are not interlaced. The scan lines occur one right after another, making for clearer and less jittery... |
| Non-parity - This means without parity. Most often it is used to describe memory that does not have extra capacity available to check memory parity and report memory... |
| Non-parity Memory - This is DRAM that has no error-detecting ability. |
| Non-Uniform Memory Access - A multiprocessing architecture where each processor or small group of processors has its own group of memory chips. Accessing memory local to the processor... |
| Non-Volatile RAM - A typically small amount of RAM that stores information even after you turn off your computer. It is used in modems for storing your settings and in hardware... |
| Normal SCSI - A common misnomer for Narrow SCSI. The original form of SCSI, using 50 pins and transmitting data at 5MBps. See also Wide SCSI. Drives and adapters that... |
| Normalize - A verb used to describe what can be done to data to remove useless or extraneous entries. For example, if you set up a survey with choices A, B, and No... |
| Northbridge - The part of a chipset in a PC that controls communications among system memory, the processor, external cache, and the AGP bus. See also southbridge. You... |
| NOS - An operating system designed to run across a network. It refers to the operating system that runs on a server, not the client. Network OSes are typically... |
| Notebook computer - A computer the size of a notebook. It is usually smaller and lighter than a laptop. |
| Novell Directory Services - First introduced in the NetWare 4.0 network operating system, this is a system designed to make management of large networks easier for administrators.... |
| NP Complete - Generally this is a class of problems that are so difficult that even the best solutions cannot consistently determine their solutions in an efficient... |
| NSFNet - National Science Foundation Network. The National Science Foundation followed on the earlier ARPANet by creating NSFNet in 1986 as a 56 Kbps backbone for... |
| nslookup - A common Internet utility like ping and traceroute. Given an IP address or a DNS address, it will look up and show the corresponding DNS or IP address.... |
| NT File System - This alternative file allocation system available first with the Windows NT operating system, and then with Windows 2000. It allows for larger disk drives... |
| NTFS - This alternative file allocation system available first with the Windows NT operating system, and then with Windows 2000. It allows for larger disk drives... |
| NTP - A protocol running over TCP/IP port 123 that is designed to synchronize clocks on servers. You can have NTP servers and NTP clients. Clients receive time... |
| NTSC - A group that is responsible for setting the standard for broadcast and reception of analog television signals in the United States and Japan. The original... |
| Null modem - There really is no "null modem" per se, but usually a null modem cable. This is a cable that connects two computers together via serial ports and allows... |
| NUMA - A multiprocessing architecture where each processor or small group of processors has its own group of memory chips. Accessing memory local to the processor... |
| NVRAM - A typically small amount of RAM that stores information even after you turn off your computer. It is used in modems for storing your settings and in hardware... |
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