This article provides you
a brief explanation of some open internet standards
and related web technologies that are reshaping
the business value chain. Most of these affect application
architecture and back end systems integration, rather
than presentation or user interface.
.NET:
.NET is a set of Microsoft
software technologies for connecting information,
people, systems, and devices. It enables a high
level of software integration through the use of
XML Web services—small, discrete, building-block
applications that connect to each other as well
as to other, larger applications over the Internet.
Applet:
An applet is a little application.
Prior to the World Wide Web, the built-in writing
and drawing programs that came with Windows were
sometimes called "applets." On the Web, using Java,
the object-oriented programming language, an applet
is a small program that can be sent along with a
Web page to a user. Java applets can perform interactive
animations, immediate calculations, or other simple
tasks without having to send a user request back
to the server.
Beans:
JavaBeans is an object-oriented
programming interface from Sun Microsystems that
lets you build re-useable applications or program
building blocks called component that can be deploy
in a network on any major operating system platform.
Like Java applet, JavaBeans components (or "Bean")
can be used to give World Wide Web pages (or other
applications) interactive capabilities such as computing
interest rates or varying page content based on
user or browser characteristics.
Certificate Authorities:
These are companies that
distribute certificates. Once a client has received
a certificate during communicating with a server,
they verify the integrity of that certificate with
the issuing certificate authority. Typically the
client applications have a list of 'trusted' Certificate
Authorities.
Certificate Utiliser:
An entity that has an SSL
certificate registered to it.
CORBA:
The Common Object Request
Broker Architecture, is the Object Management Group's
answer to the need for interoperability among the
rapidly proliferating number of hardware and software
products available today. Simply stated, CORBA allows
applications to communicate with one another no
matter where they are located or who has designed
them, providing networking transparency. SunSoft's
JAVA provides a portable object infrastructure that
works on every major operating system, providing
implementation transparency.
DNA:
The Windows Distributed interNet Applications Architecture is an enabling
infrastructure technology for the Digital Nervous
System, a key initiative at Microsoft® that relies
on connected PCs and integrated software to make
information flow rapidly and accurately. Both of
these are marketing constructs based on the Distributed
Component Object Model (DCOM), leveraging the Windows
NT Server environment including; Microsoft® Transaction
Server (MTS), Microsoft® Internet Information Server
(IIS), and Microsoft® Message Queue.
GIF:
Devised 'gif' meaning Graphic Interchange
Format, this is a method of storing a
picture or graphic image in a computer file, originally
by CompuServe/HR Block.
HTML: Hyper Text Mark-up Language involves
the placing coding or tags within a text file for
designing web pages for the Internet world-wide
web.
HTTP: Hyper Text Transfer Protocol is a method
of connecting to the Internet through the world-wide
web.
IP Address:
The interface of each computer on the Internet is
identified by a unique number known as its 'IP Address'.
The names (e.g. http://www.design2.net)
are translated to the correct IP Address using DNS
(Domain Name Servers). When two computers communicate
across the Internet, they address/identify each
other via their IP addresses.
LISTSERV:
This is an automated e-mail system that allows file
transfers, joining and leaving e-mail lists, and
automatically sending e-mail to many members in
one go.
Meta Author: This is a meta tag used typically by companies
and consultants promoting their work with the HTML
page.
Meta Description:
A meta description is a meta tag that helps search
engines to locate and index the page. This value
represents a summary of the web page.
Meta Generator:
This meta tag is automatically inserted into documents
by HTML editor programs. It specifies as a value
the name of the editor that generated the code.
Meta Keywords:
A meta keyword is a meta tag with a keyword value
used to help enable search engines to search and
index. The keywords are represented in a comma-separated
list of words relating to the web page.
Meta Refresh:
A meta refresh is a meta tag with a refresh value
to automatically direct visitors to a new page after
a specified number of seconds. It is typically used
to redirect someone from a page that has moved or
to display a brief message. Meta Tag:
The meta element is a tag used in identifying meta
information on any given web page. The commonly
used meta information is "refresh", "keywords",
"description", "PICS identification", "author",
"generator", "content-type", "expires", "transition",
and "duration". Web browsers ignore this meta element
usage when they display a page.
OOA&D:
Object-Oriented Analysis and Design is revolutionising
the way system developers and users conceive and
build systems. Use of object-oriented techniques
has been shown to decrease the time and money spent
on systems development projects and increase the
quality of the resulting systems. This in turn increases
user satisfaction. Object systems: A system used
to model/simulate: attributes, behaviour, and communications
of objects.
PERL:
Perl is a scripting language, using Perl interpreter;
acronym for Practical Extraction and Report
Language commonly used for creating Internet
world-wide Web CGI (Common gateway Interfaces).
PHP: Personal Home Page tools (PHP) is a script
language and interpreter similar to JavaScript and
Microsoft's VB Script. This is a cross-platform
alternative to Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP)
technology. As with ASP, the PHP script is embedded
within a Web page along with its HTML
PICS Generation: The Platform for Internet Content Selection (PICS)
is a system designed to associate categorising labels
with document content. The system originated as
a method to help control access to questionable
content, but can also be used to label and classify
other types of documents such as code signing, privacy,
and intellectual property rights management.
PING: Packet Internet or Inter-Network Groper (Ping)
is a basic Internet program that lets you verify
that a particular IP address exists and whether
it can accept requests. The verb 'ping' refers to
the act of using the PING utility or command. Ping
is used diagnostically to ensure that a host computer
you are trying to reach is actually operating. Ping
can also be used with a host that is operating to
see how long it takes to get a response back. Using
ping, one can learn the number form of the IP address
from the symbolic domain name.
POP [e-mail]:
Acronym for Post Office Protocol
which is commonly used on the Internet to allow
users to get their e-mail from an Internet account
using a local PC.
Servlet: A servlet is a small program that runs on a
server. The term was coined in the context of the
Java applet, a small program that is sent
as a separate file along with a Web (HTML)
page. Java applets, usually intended for running
on a client, can result in such services as performing
a calculation for a user or positioning an image
based on user interaction.
SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol , used for
sending e-mail on the Internet.
SSL: Secure Socket Layer is a protocol primarily
used to secure communications across the Internet.
It uses certificates issued by Certificate Authorities
to verify that a client is communicating with the
right person. It adds a layer of encryption to the
session in order to keep the communication private.
Swing: Swing is a set of program components for
Java programmers that provide the ability to create
Graphical User Interface (GUI) components, such
as buttons and scroll bars, that are independent
of the windowing system for specific operating system.
Swing components are used with the Java Foundation
Classes which provides a platform independent look-and-feel.
TELNET:
Method of connecting to another computer system,
normally using software that controls how information
transfers are made. This is the common way to login
to a UNIX shell account.
Top Level Domain: A top-level domain (TLD) is the portion
of a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) or Internet
address that identifies the general type of Internet
domain, such as "com" for "commercial," "edu" for
"educational," and so forth.
Wireless Markup Language: WML (Wireless Markup Language), formerly called
HDML (Handheld Devices Markup Language), is
a language that allows the text portions of Web
pages to be presented on cellular telephone and
personal digital assistants (personal digital assistant)
via wireless access. WML is part of the Wireless
Application Protocol (WAP) that is being proposed
by several vendors to standards bodies. The Wireless
Application Protocol works on top of standard data
link protocols, such as Global System for Mobile
communication, code-division multiple access, and
Time Division Multiple Access, and provides a complete
set of network communication programs comparable
to and supportive of the Internet set of protocols.
WML is an open language offered royalty-free.
UML: The Unified Modelling
Language is
a language for specifying, visualising, constructing,
and documenting the artefacts of software systems,
as well as for business modelling and other non-software
systems. The UML represents a collection of best
engineering practices that have proven successful
in the modelling of large and complex systems.
URL:
Uniform Resource Locator is
the fully qualified Internet address for an online
connection service, e.g., http://www.design2.net.
Webserver:
A web server is a program
that serves files in order to form web pages. Every
computer on the Internet that hosts a web site must
have a web server.
XML: The Extensible Mark-up
Language is
an extension of HTML, and a simplification of Standard
Generalised Mark-up Language (SGML), HTML's parent
or super-set mark-up technology. XML will allow
groups of people or organisations to create their
own customised mark-up languages for exchanging
information in their domain. HTML is already overburdened
with dozens of interesting but often incompatible
inventions from different manufacturers, because
it provides only one way of describing your information.
Web page design solutions, extranet design and content management
services from design2. A UK media agency providing ecommerce software
solutions including design2build and design2biz.
