The World's Glossary

This list contains some of our favorite technical jargon relating to things like our UNIX computer and Internet standards.

V.34

A relatively new modem standard designed to be used over POTS. V.34 data transmission speed is 28,800 bits per second. When not yet a sanctioned standard this was called (in the industry) V.Fast, and later V.FC.

V.42, V.42bis

CCITT standards for error-checking and compression, respectively, of data sent over modems (intended to be implemented inside the modems themselves.) See V.32 for a brief discussion of suffixes such as bis. See also MNP.

Archie

Utility used to query the Archie anonymous FTP databases using Prospero.

ASCII

American Standard Code for Information Interchange. Usually when someone says this (pronounced askee, a as in cat) they mean plain text files or data as opposed to binary or image files or data. In the context of international standards the term might be referring to the venerable 128 code ASCII character set which can represent the upper and lower case letters, digits, space, several punctuations (the ones you find on a typical American computer keyboard), and some control codes such as XON (resume sending) and XOFF (stop sending.) In this context it is distinguishing this basic character set from something like Latin-1 which is a different standard which also adds in many European characters such as umlauted (diaresis) and accented characters doubling the set size to about 256 glyphs. There are also standards and proposed or de facto standards for cyrillic, japanese, and many other character sets.

BBS

Bulletin Board System, typically a computer you can access either over a data network or via modem which offers a limited menu of services as opposed to a general purpose computing interface. These are very popular in the PC community and software packages exist to turn a home PC into a publically accessible BBS.

binhex

A file encoding method used primarily on macintoshes. It is similar to UUencode, in that it encodes binary data in an ASCII-only representation that can be sent through Internet mail. The binhex format preserves a files creator type.

Byte

A small unit of information generally corresponding to one character (a, b, d, etc.) Today almost always eight bits but in bygone days many computers considered the size variable so eight bit bytes are often described in internet standards documents as octets to avoid any possible confusion.

cal

Print calendar for current month and year or for specified months and years.

cat

Concatenate and print files.

cd

Change working directory.

charges

Display World subscription charges.

chfn

Change user's real name.

chmod

Change the permissions mode of a file or directory. This will control read, write and execute access to a file or directory by yourself, members of your group, and others.

Client

A client is a computer or program which receives some resource from another computer or program. For example, a database client program looks up data by making requests to a database server program. The client and server programs may or may not run on the same computer. See also server and peer.

compress

Reduce the size of a named file using adaptive Lempel-Ziv coding.

compuserve

Display a Compuserve dial-in number for a specified area code, city, or state to use to access the Compuserve Packet Network (CPN).

cp

Create a copy of a file.

CRC

Cyclic Redundancy Check, a more sophisticated method of verifying that data has been transmitted without error.

Cyberspace

A romantic term meant to encompass the entire world that exists within global computer networks. Generally credited to William Gibson's novel "Neuromancer".

DARPA

Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an agency within the United States Department of Defense (DOD.) DARPA helped initiate and fund the original ARPAnet project which led to the current Internet. Its name has been switched between DARPA and ARPA occasionally, dropping or adding the word Defense. DARPA funds many different research projects, some notable are the autonomous vehicle project (a quest for a working robotic vehicle that can maneuver itself across complicated terrain) and HDTV (high-definition television.)

date

Print and the current date.

DES

Data Encryption Standard, a United States government standard for the encryption of data. Generally thought reasonably secure for financial transactions etc. but some are suspicious that there exists some sort of "back-door" (a secret way in) and this is why NSA endorsed it.

Dmail

The dmail program simplifies the reading and organization of mail.

dtree

Display directory tree structures.

du

Summarize disk usage for all files and directories (recursively) within each specified directory and file.

Elm

Elm is an interactive screen-oriented mail program.

Emacs

GNU Emacs is a powerful editor with an extensive interactive help facility.

Ethernet

A local area networking (LAN) medium (that means real wires) developed at Xerox's Palo Alto Research Center (PARC.) Data is transmitted at ten million bits per second (10Mb/s.) This is very popular for office and campus PC's, workstations and mainframes. One strength is that it's relatively inexpensive and allows multiple machines to tap into one coaxial wire and speak with one another or broadcast one message to all systems on the same ethernet. Lately there has been a lot of activity in high-speed ethernet which transmits data at one hundred million bits per second (100Mb/s) but retains much of the same attraction of 10Mb/s ethernet. N.B. The original PARC experimental ethernet was 3Mb/s. Another dimension of activity is that the ethernet protocol has been implemented compatibly on various types of wire, including thick coaxial (the original, about one inch thick wire), thin coaxial (about 1/8 inch thick and less expensive and more flexible, easier to run around corners etc.), and twisted pair wiring which is the stuff used to wire your telephone at home.

exit

Terminate your current login process.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions, usually a reference to an electronic document which someone has compiled containing questions asked over and over again on discussion lists, as in "Go look it up in the FAQ!" Specific, topical FAQs are often posted monthly on many USENET discussion groups. People joining these groups are often expected to have looked these FAQs over lest their next question be a faux pas.

findobi

Search for specified file names in the /obi area on The World.

findsrc

Search specified file names in the /src area on The World.

Finger

Finger is used to find out about people on the Internet. It searches the /etc/passwd file on the system you specify.

Flame

Only a moron wouldn't know what "flame" means!...The term flame generally refers to a rude, hostile or argumentative remark made in a online discussion.

FTP

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is used to transfer files between two computers on the Internet. FTP is frequently used to gain access to public archives.

Fubar

Fouled Up Beyond All Recognition (other possibilities for "F" exist.) Actually, a WWII military term adopted into computing slang. Commonly shortened to just "foo" or "bar", favorite names for test or disposable disk files.

Gateway

This term is much over-used in networking, but generally means something you have to go through to get somewhere else. For example, a mail gateway is probably a computer at a site which accepts all incoming electronic mail and then figures out how to deliver it internally (possibly motivated by security concerns, the outside can only transmit to the gateway, and the internal hosts will only accept electronic mail from this gateway.)

GNUS

The GNU/Emacs USENET news reader.

Gopher

A fairly simple, textually-oriented menu system which is used for the distribution of files and other information around the internet in an ad hoc manner (see also WWW.) The system was designed at the University of Minnesota whose mascot is...the gopher (or it's the state's animal, or both.) But the name is suggestive of the program's function, menus are created on a computer system which can name other gopher servers (etc.), choosing the menu item jumps to the other system.

grep

Search a file or directory of files for a search pattern.

HomePage

Subscribe to The World's Home Page Alone (HPA) service, temporarily turn off or on access to your homepage by the Internet community, or cancel your subscription.

HPA

Homepages Alone is a service provided by The World that allows World customers to host their own WWW homepage.

HTTP

HyperText Transfer Protocol, the networking protocol used with WWW.

ingredient

Search through the USENET Cookbook for all recipes containing a specified ingredient. Used in conjunction with the "recipe" command.

IRC

Internet Relay Chat. A world-wide network of programs which allow people to type at each other in real-time. IRC is broken down into thousands of separate channels, each ostensibly on a different topic (though this can be very informal.)

Jove

Jove is an interactive display-oriented text editor, it stands for Jonathan's Own Version of Emacs.

Kermit

C-Kermit 5A(189) is communications software for serial and network connections: file transfer, terminal connection, character-set translation, and script programming.

less

less is a program used to browse or page through a text file, allowing backward movement in a file as well as forward movement.

ls

List the contents of a directory. Used with one of several flags, you may also list the size, type, status, and a host of other pieces of information about each file in a directory.

Lynx

Lynx is a general purpose distributed information browser for the World Wide Web. It is a hypertext browser that you maneuver by positioning your cursor on a boldfaced piece of text that is linked to another web site or document, and using your right arrow key or <Return> to establish the connection to that link.

macget

Receive a file from a Macintosh via modem7/macterminal.

macput

Send a file to a Macintosh via modem7/macterminal.

Mail

Send and receive electronic mail messages through this interactive mail processing system.

mail-bin

Mail-bin is used to send a binary file to someone via email. Mail-bin reads the named files, uuencodes them, and splits the uuencoded files into pieces. Each piece is then mailed to the named recipient as a self-extracting shell archive.

man

The manual pages for most World commands are available online via the man command. These online documents provide extensive details on the functions and capabilities of the various commands.

mesg

mesg permits or denies messages that are written to your terminal screen by a broadcast program.

MH

MH is the name of a complex, sophisticated, and powerful mail handling system. Rather then being a single comprehensive program, MH consists of a collection of fairly simple single-purpose programs to send, receive, save, and retrieve mail.

MIME

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) provides a standard for Internet mail. The MIME format permits email to include enhanced text, graphics, audio, and more, in a standardized and interoperable manner.

mkdir

Create a directory by specified directory name.

Modem

Modulator-Demodulator, a device which converts digital signals (typically coming from a computer) to analog signals for transmission over a telephone line ( POTS ) and back again at the other end. The term is actually applicable to a wider range of similar devices but this is its common usage.

more

Browse or page through a text file using the more program.

msend

Use msend to send an immediate message to another user.

msgs

Msgs is used to read system messages, usually short pieces of information from The World's staff which are suitable to be read once by most users of the system.

MUD

Multi-User-Dungeon. These are programs, similar in intent to IRC, which let people across the network interact with each other in real-time. Generally these programs have a theme of some sort and might provide virtual rooms one can go between with descriptions and objects and characters (perhaps other participants) in the rooms. It's apparently very addictive to some. The term dungeon refers to an old computer game called dungeon which used a dungeons-and-dragons fantasy theme and you wandered around (by yourself) picking up possibly useful objects (such as weapons) and fighting various monsters and other denizens in order to make your way to the end where some treasure or other prize was to be found. These MUDs, at least originally, tried to capture the addictive nature of these games in a network setting with others participating.

mv

Move or rename a file to another filename and/or to another directory.

NCFTP

NCFTP is a program which automates the transfer of files from public archives or "anonymous" FTP sites.

Netiquette

Commonly accepted rules of network etiquette, such as no commercial advertisements in a technical group or knowing that an electronic argument is over whenever someone mentions Hitler or the Bible (Godwin's Rule.)

NICNAME

Network Information Center Name or Naming Service, a program and protocol (see WHOIS) used to query a network information database.

NN

The program nn, netnews, is used for reading Usenet newsgroups.

passwd

Change your login password and password attributes.

Perl15

Perl15 is a practical extraction and report language.

Pico

Pico is a simple text editor in the style of the Pine Composer.

Pine

Pine is a mail program designed primarily for novice users.

pwd

Print Working Directory - print the path name of the working, or current, directory.

QUOTA

Display your current disk usage and quota limits.

recipe

Search through the USENET Cookbook table of contents for recipes, or display a specific recipe. Use the recipe command in conjunction with the "ingredient" command.

recover

Use the recover command to initiate a recovery request to The World's staff for lost or damaged files that need to be restored from backup tapes.

resize

Set TERMCAP and terminal settings to current xterm window size.

rlogin

Rlogin connects your terminal on the current local host system to a remote host system.

rm

Remove specified files.

rmdir

Remove specified directories.

RN

RN is a replacement for the readnews program.

rz

RZ stands for receive ZMODEM, or upload a file from your local host computer to The World.

Server

A server is a program or computer (the term is used almost interchangeably) which provides some resource. For example, a file server provides clients with files. Sometimes the term can be a little confusing, for example a windows server is probably your desktop system (it's easy to think of the server as being the larger system, but that's not always true.) See also client and peer.

Signature

Most mail programs and Usenet newsreaders support a signature feature. The file named .signature will be appended automatically to a mail message or newsgroup posting.

SLIP

Serial Line Internet Protocol, a protocol (or family of protocols) which allows connection to the internet over a serial line, generally via a modem.

Stty

Stty sets certain termianl I/O options for the device that is the current standard input.

sz

Sz stands for send ZMODEM, or download a file from The World to your local host computer.

talk

Talk is a visual communication program which copies lines from your terminal to that of another user.

TCP

Transmission Control Protocol, an Internet protocol which sits on top of IP and provides an error free stream of data (what you hope for, but see UDP.)

telnet

An Internet protocol which supports interactive, character-based sessions (login) between computers on the network.

TIA

The Internet Adaptor (tia) is a commercial software package that allows psuedo-SLIP connection to The World. This software can be used to provide a graphical environment when using World services.

Tin

Tin is a full-screen, easy-to-use USENET newsreader.

Trn

Trn is a threaded version or rn, where the articles are interconnected in reply order.

umask

Set the file-creation mode mask for your account.

uncompress

Uncompress will restore a compressed file to its original form.

UNIX

A computer operating system and set of software programs which runs on many different platforms. Developed in 1969 at Bell Laboratories it is one of the most prevalent operating systems in use on the internet. One reason for this is that in the late 1970's DARPA chose it as the platform to fund to implement the internet protocols on. The name is whimsical and a play on an earlier operating system, Multics, which some of the original developers of Unix worked on (Bell Labs was one of the participants in the original Multics program but withdrew, some of those involved went back home and wrote Unix, intended to be far simpler in conception.)

Usenet

Usenet is a collection of newsgroups organized by hierarchies and topics. This public forum is available to any member of the network community and covers a broad range of subjects.

users

Users displays a crude list of all users currently logged in, by username.

uuconvert

Uuconvert reconstitutes uuencoded, multi-part files.

uudecode

Uudecode will transmit binary files over transmission mediums that do not support other than simple ASCII data.

uuencode

Uuencode reads a named source file and writes an encoded version to the standard output.

vacation

The vacation program is used to automatically respond to incoming mail messages. Typically, vacation informs the sender that you are not available to read your mail.

Vi

Vi is a display-oriented text editor based on the underlying line editor ex.

Virus

A computer program which can propagate itself from computer to computer often via insidious means and with insidious intent (such as to destroy data.) Viruses often hide in other programs, sometimes placed there long after the program was distributed, by a malicious person, and once activated insert themselves into your disk so even removing the infected program won't remove the infection. See also trojan horse, worm.

WAIS

Wide-Area Information Service, a network protocol which supports full-text queries (search a body of documents for any which contain some specified word.) Often used as a facility within Gopher and WWW though WAIS has its own software for direct use.

whereis

Whereis locates source/binary and manuals sections for specified files.

which

Which takes a list of names and looks for the files, including aliases and path names, which would be executed had these names been given as commands.

whois

An internet protocol, and often the name of a program, which can query servers for various information about a person or host (see finger.) It's most often used to query the NIC and can be used, for example, to find out which organization (in the US) is associated with a particular network domain name. Another term used is NICNAME, also sometimes the name of the program used to make these queries.

The World

The name of the computer system operated by Software Tool & Die to provide online access to Internet services. The World was founded in November 1989.

WWW

World Wide Web provides a sophisticated, hypertext language for the distribution of and access to information stored on the Internet.

wwwacct

Wwwacct prints our World Wide WEb log records for your account in the standard format used by the NCSA HTTPD server. The information wwwacct provides includes: remote host, remote user, the local user, date, time timezone, request type, requested file, server protocol, a status code, and the number of bytes transferred.

zcat

Restore a compressed file to its orginal form for display purposes.

zmore

Zmore is a filter which allows examination of compressed text files one screenful at a time on a soft-copy terminal.