Internet glossary

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NAP - Network Access Point. A point where networks and service providers hand off traffic to each other. NAPs are typically the points with the worst congestion problems. When you encounter slow responses and run a traceroute, you will usually see the slowest connections occur where one network hands off to another.

Netiquette - The etiquette on the Internet.

Netizen - Derived from the term citizen, referring to a citizen of the Internet,or someone who uses networked resources. The term connotes civic responsibility and participation.

Netscape - A WWW Browser and the name of a company. The Netscape (tm) browser was originally based on the Mosaic program developed at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA).

Network - Any time you connect 2 or more computers together so that they can share resources, you have a computer network. Connect 2 or more networks together and you have an internet.

Newbie or newby - A newcomer to the nets, who reveals his or her inexperience by lack of knowledge of net conventions, netiquette, vocabulary, and know-how.

Newsgroup - The name for discussion groups on USENET. Internet glossary.

NIC (Network Information Center) - Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet was the InterNIC, which was where most new domain names were registered until that process was decentralized to a number of private companies. Also means "Network Interface card", which is the card in a computer that you plug a network cable into. Internet glossary.

NNTP (Network News Transport Protocol) - The protocol used by clientand server software to carry USENET postings back and forth over a TCP/IP network. If you are using any of the more common software such as Netscape, Nuntius, Internet Explorer, etc. to participate in newsgroups then you are benefiting from an NNTP connection.

Node - Any single computer connected to a network.