CIS 105
Survey of Computer Information Systems
Essential Concepts and Terminology
Study Unit 7
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Media Convergence.
The unification of all earlier media forms (print, audio, video, animation, telephone) in a single medium.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Internet.
The worldwide communication technology and infrastructure that links computer networks using
TCP/IP protocol, enabling direct data exchange between any two connected computers.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

ISP (Internet Service
Provider).
A company that provides Internet access, often by paid subscriptions, to businesses, organizations, and individuals.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Internet Protocol (IP).
The rules enabling data to be sent from one computer to another on the Internet. The protocol specifies that each computer have at least one uniquely identifier, its
IP address.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

IP Address.
The unique four-part number separated by periods (such as
216.239.39.120
) used for identifying each computer connected to the Internet.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

WWW (World Wide Web).
The network of computer networks enabling connected users to access billions of pages of information.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Platform.
A distinct class of computers, distinguished as using a specific type of processor and operating system.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Interoperability.
The characteristic of the Internet that enables cross-platform computer operations.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Online Service.
A proprietary network offering customized, fee-based access, client software, and services.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Portal.
An Internet gateway providing organized content, often with free services to attract commercial activity and advertisers.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

ARPANet.
The network created in 1969 by the Advanced Research Projects
Agency (ARPA). ARPANet was the first network to use the technology that is the basis of the Internet.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Client.
A program running on a computer, such as a Web browser, that requests information from another computer.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Server.
Any computer providing a service to other computers on a network.
A program on a networked computer that provides data to client computers.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Hyperlink.
Portion of a hypertext markup language document that directs a client program to retrieve another document. This technological advance enabled the World Wide
Web.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Hypertext.
Text strings in documents that are often underlined, highlighted, or otherwise emphasized to indicate their hyperlink property.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

URL (Uniform Resource
Locator).
The unique address that specifies precisely the location of a Web page.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

FTP (File Transfer
Protocol).
The set of rules enabling downloading and uploading of
ASCII and text files via the
Internet.
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ASCII.
Acronym for American Standard
Code for Information Interchange, the predominant computer character set encoding, currently using 7 bit binary code to define
128 possible characters.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Executable File.
A file containing instructions capable of running on a computer, usually with an .exe extension if intended for use on a PC.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Macro.
Any set of instructions that automates a task. A macro can be written or created by performing a task while recording the steps.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Usenet.
An Internet discussion group news service for collecting and storing information by topic categories, called newsgroups and forums.
More than 50,000 newsgroups exist.
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Thread.
A series of newsgroup articles with a continuing commentary on a particular subject.
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Netiquette.
Etiquette rules pertaining to use of
Internet communications.
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Flames.
Angry or critical Internet communications.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Internet Chat Relay (ICR).
Internet service that supports many channels of real-time, textbased conversation among multiple participants.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol
(TCP/IP).
A standard set of communication rules used by every computer connected to the Internet.
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Point-to-Point Protocol
(PPP).
A version of PCP/IP to connect a dial-up computer to the Internet using a temporarily assigned IP address.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Digital Subscriber Line
(DSL).
A protocol that enables highspeed, permanent online Internet connections using telephone lines.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Backbone.
A transmission line that carries data gathered from smaller interconnected lines, at the local level, from LAN to
LAN or from a LAN to a wide area network connection, or, on the Internet or other wide area network, a set of paths that local or regional networks connect to for long-distance interconnection.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Network Access Points
(NAPS).
Several major Internet interconnection points that provide major switching facilities and tie all the Internet access providers together.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Domain Name System
(DNS).
The system of Internet addressing that stores and translates meaningful and easy-to-remember text aliases (such as www.mc.maricopa.edu) into
Internet Protocol addresses.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Internet Network
Information Center
(InterNIC).
The organization originally responsible for registering and maintaining top-level domain names on the World Wide Web.
Recently, competition was introduced and the Internet Corporation of
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) conducts registrar accreditation.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Top-Level Domain Names
.gov
Government agency
.edu
Educational institution
.org
Nonprofit organizations
.com
Commercial business
.net
Network organizations
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Intranet.
A local or wide-area computer network based in TCP/IP, and not necessarily available to external connections.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

Firewall.
A program to prevent or limit external access to a computer from networked connections.
CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7

End of Study Unit 7.
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CIS 105 Concepts and Terminology Unit 7 Created by James Q. Jacobs