Internet glossary

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Hacker - Originally, a hacker was a term of respect among computer designers, programmers, and engineers for those among them who created truly original and ingenious programs, devices, or sometimes very clever practical jokes. Unfortunately, the current popular meaning of the term is to describe those who break into systems, destroy data, steal copyrighted software, and perform other destructive or illegal acts with computers and networks.

Hit - 1. In search terminology, every listing a search engine returns from a search is called a hit. 2. The term hit is also used to refer to calls on a web server, and it is much misunderstood. Technically, if a web page is called by a remote browser, and it includes three graphics, there are four hits on that server, one for the page, and one for each graphic. Many people and most 'hit counters' use the term hit to mean hits on the web page only, not the calls to graphics or other supporting files that come with the page. When someone quotes figures on hits, be aware that definitions and uses vary, and try to find out what definition was used in producing the figures. Internet glossary.

Hoax - There are many hoaxes continually popping up on the nets. False viruses are the most common of these with names like "Join the Crew" or "PenPal Greetings", but there are many more themes that keep recurring. Appeals to charity is a common theme for a hoax, sometimes partially based in fact. If you get a chain letter appeal about Jessica Mydek or Craig Shergold or anything involving the Make A Wish Foundation, please check it out first before spreading it. There are also lots of stories going around about Bill Gates and money-making schemes and expensive cookie recipes and stolen kidneys, all of which are interesting stories, but usually false or even fraudulent. Internet glossary.

Home Page - Several meanings. Originally, the web page that your browser is set to use when it starts up. The more common meaning refers to the main web page for a business, organization, person or simply the main page out of a collection of web pages, e.g. "Check out so-and-so's new Home Page."

Hop - A message or data packet travels a path among routers on a network through a series of hops from the source to the destination.

Host - Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as SMTP (email) and HTTP (web).

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) - The coding language used to create Hypertext documents for use on the World Wide Web. HTML looks a lot like old-fashioned typesetting code, where you surround a block of text with codes that indicate how it should appear. The "hyper" in Hypertext comes from the fact that in HTML you can specify that a block of text, or an image, is linked to another file on the Internet. HTML files are meant to be viewed using a "Web Browser". HTML is loosely based on a more comprehensive system for markup called SGML, and is expected to eventually be replaced by XML-based XHTML standards. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) - The protocol for moving hypertextfiles across the Internet. Requires a HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program (such as Apache) on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW). Internet glossary.

http - HyperText Transfer Protocol. It is the main protocol used on the World Wide Web that enables linking to other web sites. Addressing to other web pages begins with "http://" and is followed by the domain name or IP address.

Hyperlink - A link in a web page that brings you to another location or resource when activated. Hyperlinks usually appear as underlined text and printed in a contrasting color, but they may also appear as graphics, such as buttons to click. Hyperlinks may link to another place in the same page, to a different page, to play an audio or video file, to download a file, to set up a message to an e-mail address, to search a database, to read Usenet newsgroups, and to link to other Internet resources. Internet glossary.

Hypermedia - Like hypertext, but includes other interlinking media, such as graphics, audio, video, and VRML.

Hypertext - Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.