Category Archives: Glossary

Stands for “Garbage In, Garbage Out.”

A megapixel is one million pixels. It is commonly used to describe the resolution of digital cameras. For example, a 7.2 megapixel camera is capable of capturing roughly 7,200,000 pixels. The higher the megapixel number, the more detail the camera can capture. Therefore, the megapixel count is a significant specification to look for when buying a digital camera.

A megabyte is 2 to the 20th power, or 1,048,576 bytes.

A name server translates domain names into IP addresses. This makes it possible for a user to access a website by typing in the domain name instead of the website’s actual IP address. For example, when you type in “www.microsoft.com,” the request gets sent to Microsoft’s name server which returns the IP address of the Microsoft website.

A meta search engine is a search tool that aggregates search results from multiple individual search engines simultaneously and presents them to the user in a single list. Instead of relying on a single search engine’s index and algorithms, a meta search engine queries several search engines, directories, or databases to gather a broader range of results.

Stands for “Network Basic Input/Output System.” NetBIOS was introduced in 1983 by IBM as an improvement to the standard BIOS used by Windows-based computers. The BIOS provides an interface between the computer’s operating system and the hardware. As the name implies, NetBIOS adds support for networking, including the ability to recognize other devices connected to the network.

A network is a collection of computers, servers, devices, or other nodes interconnected by communication links for the purpose of sharing resources, exchanging data, and communicating with each other. These communication links can include wired connections (such as Ethernet cables or fiber optics) or wireless connections (such as Wi-Fi or cellular networks).

Netiquette, a portmanteau of “net” (short for internet) and “etiquette,” refers to the code of conduct or guidelines for appropriate behavior and communication while using digital communication tools, such as email, social media, online forums, chat rooms, and messaging platforms. Netiquette aims to promote respectful, courteous, and effective communication in online interactions.

A network topology describes the arrangement of systems on a computer network. It defines how the computers, or nodes, within the network are arranged and connected to each other. Some common network topologies include star, ring, line, bus, and tree configurations. These topologies are defined below:

Stands for “Open Shortest Path First.” OSPF is a method of finding the shortest path from one router to another in a local area network (LAN). As long as a network is IP-based, the OSPF algorithm will calculate the most efficient way for data to be transmitted.