Glossary
- Client
A computing device, such as a PC, handheld organizer, or mobile phone that requests documents from a server. For example, someone is browsing the Web with a client PC, retrieving information from servers hosting web pages.
- Database
A collection of data, usually in a structured form, that can be searched, updated, and queried. Databases can include text, numbers, pictures, and even multimedia such as video. For example, the listings on Amazon.com are in a database.
- Free software
Software in which the programming instructions, or source code, is openly available and free for downloading and modification. Examples of free software (also known as Open Source Software), include the Linux operating system.
- Hacking
Delving into the innards of a program or a network, sometimes to explore and other times to make improvements. Some hackers are malevolent and cause damage, and have given the word “hacker” a bad name. Examples of “good” hacking include updating or improving hardware devices, such as cars or PCs, in ways not specifically authorized by the manufacturer.
- HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
A text-based markup language web browsers read to display web pages. To see the HTML of any web page, select the View → Source menu of any browser.
- Linux
A Unix-like open source operating system that runs a majority of the servers on the Internet. Linux was designed as a free alternative to costly operating systems such as Unix and Windows.
- Mailing list
A topic-oriented email list people subscribe ...