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Icon
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IDE
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IEEE
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IM |
Internet
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Intranet
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IP
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IP Address
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IPX
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IRC
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IRQ
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ISDN
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ISP
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IT
Icon
Ever since the Macintosh was
introduced in 1984, icons have been the way we view files on
computers. An icon on your computer screen represents an
object or a program on your hard drive. For example, the
folders you see on your desktop or in open windows are icons.
The files that you see in those folders are also icons. The
trash can on the Macintosh and the recycle bin on Windows are
both icons as well.
Icons are a visual representation of something on your
computer. For example, a blue "e" on your screen most likely
represents the Internet Explorer program. An icon that looks
like a sheet of paper is probably a text document. By clicking
and dragging icons, you can move the actual files they
represent to various locations on your computer's hard drive.
By double-clicking an application icon, you can open the
program. Icons are one of the fundamental features of the
graphical user interface (GUI). They make computing much more
user-friendly than having to enter text commands to accomplish
anything. Some Unix nerds would beg to differ, but I'm talking
about normal people here.
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IDE
Stands for "Integrated Device
Electronics." It is the most widely-used hard drive interface
on the market. The fancy name refers to how the IDE technology
"integrates" the electronics controller into the drive itself.
The original IDE standard could only support hard drives
containing up to 540 MB of data. The new standard, EIDE
(Enhanced-IDE), supports hard drives with over 50 GB of data
and allows for data transfer rates that are over twice as fast
as the original IDE. Another common hard drive interface is
SCSI, which is faster than EIDE, but usually costs more per
megabyte.
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IEEE
Stands for the "Institute of
Electrical and Electronics Engineers." This is a non-profit
organization that develops, defines, and reviews electronics
and computer science standards. Though it is a U.S. based
organization, standards developed by the IEEE often become
International standards. Some examples of commonly-used
products standardized by the organization are the IEEE 1284
interface (a.k.a. Parallel Port), which many printers use, and
the IEEE 1394 interface (a.k.a. Firewire), which is a
super-fast connection for digital video cameras, hard drives,
and other peripherals.
The IEEE describes itself as "the world's largest technical
professional society -- promoting the development and
application of electrotechnology and allied sciences for the
benefit of humanity, the advancement of the profession, and
the well-being of our members." Perhaps they could standardize
a more simplified definition of their organization.
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IM
Stands for "Instant Message."
Instant messaging, or "IMing," as frequent users call it, has
become a popular way to communicate over the Internet. Two
people with the same IM client software can type messages back
in forth in a private "chat room." The IM software can also
keep a list of friends, or "buddies" and let the user know who
else is online. After seeing who is online, the user can open
up chat rooms with as many other people as he or she wants.
While I find it difficult to focus on one conversation at a
time, I have known some girls that can keep more than ten
conversations going at once.
Instant messaging can be a much more efficient way to
communicate with others than sending multiple e-mails back and
forth. For this reason, instant messaging has become a useful
tool for both friends and co-workers. Some people even find it
more convenient to IM their friends than to talk on the phone,
which I do not understand. The two most popular instant
messaging clients are AOL Instant Messanger and MSN Messanger.
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Internet
Believe it or not, the Internet
was created way back in 1969, during the Cold War, by the
United States military. It was meant to be a "nuke-proof"
communications network. Today, the Internet spreads across the
globe and consists of countless networks and computers,
allowing millions of people to share information. Data that
travels long distances on the Internet is transferred on huge
lines known collectively as the Internet backbone. The
Internet is now maintained by the major Internet service
providers such as MCI Worldcom, Sprint, GTE, ANS, and UUNET.
Because these providers make huge amounts of revenue off the
Internet, they are motivated to maintain consistent and fast
connections which benefits everyday Internet users like you
and me.
Many people think the Internet and the World Wide Web are the
same thing. They're not! The World Wide Web is what you are
browsing right now. It is one of the many features of the
Internet. E-mail, FTP, and Instant Messaging are also features
of the Internet.
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Intranet
Contrary to popular belief,
this is not simply a misspelling of "Internet." "Intra" means
"internal" or "within," so an Intranet is an internal or
private Internet used strictly within the confines of a
company, university, or organization. "Inter" means "between
or among," hence the difference between the Internet and an
Intranet.
Up until the last few years, most corporations used local
networks composed of expensive proprietary hardware and
software for their internal communications. Now, using simple
Internet technology, intranets have made internal
communication much easier and less expensive. Intranets use a
TCP/IP connection and support Web browsing, just like a
typical Internet connection does. The difference is that Web
sites served within the intranet can only be accessed by
computers connected through the local network. Now that you
know the difference between the Internet and an intranet, you
can go around telling people on the street what you know and
impress them.
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IP
Stands for "Internet Protocol."
It provides a standard set of rules for sending and receiving
data through the Internet. People often use the term "IP" when
referring to an IP address, which is OK. The two terms are not
necessarily synonymous, but when you ask what somebody's IP
is, most people will know you are referring to their IP
address.
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IP Address
Also known as an "IP number" or simply an "IP," this is a code
made up of numbers separated by three dots that identifies a
particular computer on the Internet. Every computer, whether
it be a Web server or the computer you're using right now,
requires an IP address to connect to the Internet. For
example, the IP address of everyone's favorite computer
resource, Sharpened.net, is 209.123.247.45. The IP address of
the computer I'm using right now is 66.72.98.236. Your
Internet Service Provider (ISP), will assign you either a
static IP address (which is always the same) or a dynamic IP
address, (which changes everytime you log on). ISPs typically
assign users a dynamic IP address each time they sign on
because it reduces the number of IP addresses they must
register. However, if you connect to the Internet through a
network, it is more likely that you have a static IP address.
ISPs and organizations usually apply to the InterNIC for a
range of IP addresses so that all their clients have similar
addresses. There are three classes of IP address sets that can
be registered: Class C, which consists of 255 IP addresses,
class B, which contains 65,000 IP addresses, and class A,
which includes hundreds of thousands of IP addresses. Because
there are so many computers now connected to the Internet, the
InterNIC is actually running out of IP addresses. Therefore,
Class A and Class B address blocks are very hard, if not
impossible, to get. Most large companies have to register
multiple Class C addresses instead. To resolve this problem,
the Internet Engineering Task Force, which created the
original IP address standard, is working on a new protocol
called "IP Next Generation" or "IPng."
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IPX
Stands for "Internetwork Packet Exchange." (I didn't know
"exchange" started with an "x" either.) It is a networking
protocol used to connect networks based on Novell's NetWare.
IPX is "connectionless," meaning it doesn't require
connections to be maintained during an exchange of packets,
like a phone call does. It can just pick up where it left off
when a connection is temporarily dropped. Another nice thing
about IPX is that it usually only loads when you log on to a
network, so it doesn't take up unnecessary resources. As some
video game players may know, IPX used to be the standard
protocol for network games. However, most video games now use
the more robust TCP/IP protocol, which allows for long
distance network gaming.
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IRC
Stands for "Internet Relay Chat." IRC makes it possible for
people using the Internet to converse with each other in real
time by typing messages back and forth. In order to talk to
someone through IRC, you need to connect to the same IRC
server. When you and others connect to the server, you can
join a channel (a.k.a. chat room), and talk with the other
people who have joined that channel. Usually, channels have
specific topics like "teenchat," "macusers," or "folksingingmotorcyclists."
To connect to an IRC server, you'll need a software program
like Ircle (Mac) or mIRC (Windows). Most IRC programs also let
you transfer files with other users, which is a cool feature,
but has also led to a lot of software piracy.
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IRQ
Stands for "Interrupt Request." PCs use interrupt requests to
manage various hardware operations. Devices such as sound
cards, modems, and keyboards can all send interrupt requests
to the processor. For example, when the modem needs to run a
process, it sends an interrupt request to the CPU saying,
"Hey, hold up, let me do my thing!" The CPU then interrupts
its current job to let the modem run its process.
It is important to assign different IRQ addresses to different
hardware devices is because the interrupt request signals run
along single IRQ lines to a controller. This interrupt
controller assigns priorities to incoming IRQs and sends them
to the CPU. It's kind of like taking a number at the local
deli, except the hardware usually only has to wait a couple of
nanoseconds instead of like twenty minutes). Since the
interrupt controller can control only one device per IRQ line,
if you assign the same IRQ address to multiple devices, you
are likely to get an IRQ conflict. This can cause a range of
errors from not allowing network connections to crashing your
computer. So make sure you assign unique IRQs to new hardware
you install and avoid the frustration and keyboard throwing
that conflicts can cause.
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ISDN
Stands for "Integrated Services Digital Network." No, it's not
the same thing as the ISBN you see in books. ISDN is a data
transfer technology, created in 1984, that can transfer data
significantly faster than a dial-up modem. ISDN enables
wide-bandwidth digital transmission over the public telephone
network, which means more data can be sent at one time. A
typical ISDN connection can support transfer rates of 64K or
128K of data per second. While these speeds are faster than
what you can get with a dial-up modem, the newer DSL
technology can support even faster transfer rates and is less
costly to set up and maintain.
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ISP
Stands for "Internet Service Provider." In order to connect to
the Internet, you need an ISP. It is the company that you (or
your parents) pay a monthly fee to in order to use the
Internet. If you use a dial-up modem to connect to your ISP, a
point-to-point protocol (PPP) connection is established with
another modem on the ISP's end. That modem connects to one of
the ISP's routers, which routes you to the Internet
"backbone." From there, you can access information from
anywhere around the world. DSL and cable modems work the same
way, except after you connect the first time, you are always
connected.
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IT
Stands for "Information Technology," and is pronounced "I.T."
It refers to anything related to computing technology, such as
networking, hardware, software, the Internet, or the people
that work with these technologies. Many companies now have IT
departments for managing the computers, networks, and other
technical areas of their businesses. IT jobs include computer
programming, network administration, computer engineering, Web
development, technical support, and many other related
occupations. Since we live in the "information age,"
information technology has become a part of our everyday
lives. That means the term "IT," already highly overused, is
here to stay.
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