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Web Glossary M-O
M
Machine language
Binary code or machine language which is the only language a CPU understands. High-level programming languages (C, Perl, Java etc) must be translated to machine language, before they can be executed.
Menu bar
The sequence of pull-down menus across the top of the Web browser (or any software program like Word, Photoshop, Excel) window. All commands are accessible through the Menu Bar.
Meta-search tools
Tools that allow you to search either more than one search engine or directory simultaneously, or a list of search tools that can be accessed from that site. These two major types of meta-search tools are called parallel search tools and all-in-one search tools.
Meta-Tags
Keywords that are inserted in the meta-tag portion of the HTML source document by the author of the Web page. Meta-tags help a Web page that doesn’t have much text come up in a keyword search, although most search engines rank sites higher by the text on a page, and not by the meta-tags.
Meta Information
Meta information means "information about information." In HTML, meta tags describe the content of the document in which they're written. Meta tags have two possible attributes: <META HTTP-EQUIV="name" CONTENT="content"> and <META NAME="name" CONTENT="content">. Meta tags with an HTTP-EQUIV attribute are analogous to HTTP headers that can control the action of browsers. Meta tags with a NAME attribute are used primarily by indexing and searching tools. These tools can gather meta information in order to sort and classify Web pages.
Metaverse
From the novel "Snow Crash" by Neal Stephenson, this term describes a virtual online representation of reality.
MIME-Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
MIME is a messaging standard that allows Internet users to exchange e-mail messages enhanced with graphics, video and voice. MIME file types are also used in Mosaic.
Mirror or mirror site
Mirror sites are created when the traffic on the original site is too heavy therefore an exact replica of the over taxed site is created on another server in a different geographic area(s).
Mosaic
This is the common name of a World Wide Web multimedia browser program developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications in Urbana-Champaign, Ill. The official, copyrighted name of the program is NCSA Mosaic(tm).
MPEG - Moving Pictures Expert Group
The acronym for Moving Pictures Expert Group, MPEG is an international standard for video compression and desktop movie presentation. A special viewing application is needed to run MPEG files on your computer. Compression standard for video in a format similar to JPEG
*MP3 or MPEG 3
Compression standard for music. Although the compression rate may be very high, you'll have almost no loss of quality.
N
Navigator
Web browser from Netscape
NCSA
This is the abbreviation for National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
Nested Boolean Logic
The use of parenthesis in expressions used in boolean searching. For example the nested expression ((houses AND condos) OR co-ops) NOT apartments will first find resources that contain both terms houses and condos or the term co-ops but not resources that contain the term apartments.
Newbie
A newcomer to the internet or more likely to a particular newsgroup, and who may not know how to address or format his/her questions.
Newsgroup
Discussion group (on USENET) among people who share a mutual interest. In one particular newsgroup you can find several conversations ("threads") on different (to the newsgroup related) topics. There are thousands and thousands of newsgroups, covering almost every possible subject.
NFS-Network File System
NFS is a protocol suite developed and licensed by Sun Microsystems that allows different makes of computers running different operating systems to share files and disk storage.
NIC-Network Information Center
NIC is an organization responsible for supplying information for component networks that comprise the Internet.
NOC-Network Operations Center
NOC is the organization responsible for the day-to-day operations of the Internet's component networks.
Node
A device attached to a network. A node uses the network as a means of communication and has an address on the network.
NNTP-Network News Transport Protocol
Allows you to access Internet discussion areas known as the Newsgroups.
NREN-National Research and Education Network
NREN is an effort to combine the networks operated by the U.S. government into a single high-speed network.
NSFNet
A network established by the National Science Foundation in 1986 to connect five super computer centers in the U.S. and provide connectivity to the Internet primarily for colleges and universities. The main traffic on the Internet was turned over to interconnected network providers in 1995.
O
OC-1, OC-3, OC-12, OC-24, OC-48
OC stands for Optical Carrier, a standard for fiber optic transmission.
OC-1: transmission speed of 51.85 Mbps
OC-3: transmission speed of 155.52 Mbps
OC-12: transmission speed of 622.08 Mbps
OC-24: transmission speed of 1,244 Mbps (1.24 Gbps)
OC-48: transmission speed of 2,488 Mbps (2.48 Gbps)
Offline
Not connected to a computer network or service.
OSI Model -Open Systems Interconnection
The OSI reference model for describing network protocols was devised by the Internet Standards Organization. It divides protocols in to seven layers to standardize and simplify definitions.
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