Unit 2 Vocab

Computer servers - a more powerful computer that "serves" other computers by providing some service or functionality; usually housed in a data center so lots of other "client" computers can access it

File server - stores and manages files that can be accessed by other computers on a network

Web server - responds to requests for web pages by other computers

Routers - devices that help "route" network requests and help connect computers and send data packets

Embedded device - a highly specialized device meant for a very specific purpose; usually embedded, or included within another object or as part of a larger system

Computing system - a group of computing devices and programs working together for a common purpose

Computer network - a group of interconnected computing devices capable of sending and receiving data

Node - any addressable device on a network

Network interface card - allows a computer to join a network as a node; a node must have one to be able to join the network

Network switches - central nodes that move messages to nodes in the same network

Network router - connects two or separate networks

Network bandwidth - maximum amount of data that can be sent in a fixed amount of time

Data transfer rate - the time it takes to transfer data from one device to another (measured in Mbps - megabits per second)

Uploading - sending data (purchasing something, saving files to the cloud, sending files, posting on social media)

Downloading - receiving data (browsing websites, reading email, watching movie/videos, listening to music, playing online games)

Latency - how long it takes data to travel between its source and its destination

IP Address - an Internet Protocol address is a unique numerical label assigned to each device connected to a computer network

Hostname - unique identification for a specific computer on the Internet

Domain Name - part of a hostname that identifies a specific organization or group; acts like a phonebook for the Internet

Cloud computing - a network of remote servers (powerful computers) located around the world, usually in large, safe buildings called Data Centers

Packets - packages/envelopes of information that contain chunks of data or metadata used for routing the packet between the origin and the destination on the Internet as well as for data reassembly

Protocols - networking rules that packets follow in order to get to the destination in the right order

Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) - the first protocol that helps the computer break the messages into packets, create a header for each packet that identifies the data, and assigns a port to the message

Internet Protocol (IP) - the next protocol that adds its own header, adding destination and sender's IP address to the packets, and deals with the routing of packets through interconnected networks to their destination

Packet routing - routers direct the packets as they move between networks; they choose the fastest (or cheapest) route (which is not necessarily the shortest route); usually dynamic, meaning it is not specified in advance

Path - sequence of directly connected computing devices; begins at sender & ends at receiver

Internet - a computer network consisting of interconnected networks that use standardized, open (non-proprietary) communication protocols)

Fault tolerance - a system that can support failures and still continue to function

Redundancy - the inclusion of extra components that can be used to mitigate failure of a system if other components fail

DDoS - stands for distributed denial of service; cyber attack on a specific server or network that attempts to disrupt normal operations or traffic for that server. The attack floods the server or network with a constant flood of traffic that makes it impossible for the server to withstand the influx of messages

Botnet - group of bots used in a DDoS attack to overwhelm a site

Sequential computing - a computational model in which operations are performed in order one at a time

Parallel computing - a computational model where the program is broken into multiple smaller sequential computing operations, some of which are performed simultaneously

Distributed computing - a computational model in which multiple devices are used to run a program

HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol

HTTPS - Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure

URL - Uniform Resource Locator

HTML - Hypertext Markup Language

Web page - page with information that is written in HTML and is published on the WWW

Link - connection between one page and another

Website - collection of web pages on the same domain

Web browser - Software that displays an HTML page; HTML tags guide the browser