Internet Terminologies

Internet: This can be defined as a network of computer networks (LAN, MAN, WAN)

Personal Area Network (PAN): It refers to the interconnection of information technology devices or gadgets within the environment of an individual user typically within 10 meters.

Local Area Network (LAN): A local area network (LAN) is where a collection of devices are connected together in one physical location, such as a building, campus, office, or home.

Metropolitan Area Network (MAN): A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a large computer network, usually spanning a city or large campus.

Wide Area Network (WAN): A wide area network (WAN) is a network that covers a large-scale geographical area, as compared to other network types

Intranet: An intranet is a private network contained within an organization, that is used to store and securely share company information and computing resources among employees.

WWW: This is a collection of pages of information on different topics, linked together to form global web information on the Internet.

Home Page: A page that appears on the screen when you start internet explorer or any browser.

Website: This is a place on the internet, where several web pages that link to each other are obtained.

Internet Protocol: A set of rules that determines the exchange of information between computers on the internet.

Internet Service Providers (ISP): The Company that provides/connects users’ computers to the Internet. Examples of ISP in Nigeria are Main One, Spectranet, MTN, GLO, etc.

Browsing: This is the process of searching for and accessing information from the internet. This can also be called surfing.

Website Address: This is the address used to search and retrieve information from the internet. A website address is different from an email address e.g http://www.google.com

Chatting: This is the online communication between two or more people, by sending and receiving typed messages, at different geographical locations on the internet.

Newsgroup: Newsgroup enables users to join discussion groups on the internet. It is an electronic bulletin board, that contains messages sent by different members of the group, on different related topics such as football, the European League, Latest fashion, Agric, etc.

Downloading: This is the process of copying information from the internet.

FTP: An internet facility that enables users to download information or files on the internet.

Email: The use of computers for sending and receiving mail via electronic means on the Internet.

Email Box: Where all the emails of a user are stored.

Off-Line: This provides web pages when users’ computer is not connected to the internet.

A Link: A text picture or a phrase that is usually underlined when the mouse pointer touches it. The mouse pointer equally changes to a hand shape whenever it points to a link.

URL: The website address of an Internet document that enables you to have direct access to a website.

Email Address: Unique address used to locate and identify someone’s email box on the internet

Browsers:

A browser is a software that enables users to access and view www documents on the Internet e.g. Internet Explorer, Mozilla, Opera, Netscape. Browsers are application software or program designed to enable users to access, retrieve and view documents and other resources on the Internet.

The major web browsers are Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Opera, Safari, and Mosaic (Netscape). Others are Maxthon, SeaMonkey, Konqueror, AOL explorer, shiira, Netscape Communicator, Power Browser, Cyberdog, voyager, Mac web, Agora, slipknot, biola www, cello, etc.

The primary purpose of a web browser is to bring information resources to the user. This process begins when the user inputs the URL e.g. http//……. into the browser. The most commonly used kind of URL starts with HTTP, identifying a resource to be retrieved over HTTP. Information resources may contain hyperlinks to other information resources.

Parts of an Email Address:

1. Username: The name of a person or organization that owns the email address

2. At Sign: The sign @. To activate it, hold down the shift key and press 2.

3. Host: The name of the organization that maintains or owns the Internet site. e.g yahoo, hotmail, google, etc.

4. Site Type: This determines the email service site type e.g. .edu, .com, .org. For example, [email protected]

You may include the country code e.g. [email protected] (.ng stands for Nigeria).

Examples of Email Addresses:

Write 5 examples taking into cognizance small letters and no space.

The host and the site type form the domain. The site type tells us how Internet services could be put into use. These are:

.com	for	commercial
.edu	for	educational
.mil	for	military
.gov	for	government
.org	for	non-profit organization
.net	for	network resources
.int	for	international organizations such as UNESCO, WHO, UNICEF, etc.

Parts of a Website Address:

1. Hypertext Transfer Protocol | HTTP (Protocol Name): This is a set of rules that enables computers to exchange information. It helps users to download information from the Internet.

2. Site Location (www): This indicates that the site is on the www – world wide web. Nowadays, It’s actually not necessary to use www in URLs.

3. Web server (Host or Search Engine): This is the name of the organization that owns or maintains the site e.g. Yahoo, Google, Hostgator, Siteground, Cloudway, etc.

4. Site Type: This determines the site service e.g. .edu, .com, .org etc.

Example: http://www.yahoo.com