address resolution - Conversion of an internet address into the corresponding physical address.

Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) - A pioneering longhaul network funded by ARPA (now DARPA). It served as the basis for early networking research, as well as a central backbone during the development of the Internet. The ARPANET consisted of individual packet switching computers interconnected by leased lines. See also: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

agent - In the client-server model, the part of the system that performs information preparation and exchange on behalf of a client or server application.

alias - A name, usually short and easy to remember, that is translated into another name, usually long and difficult to remember.

ALT - One of the areas in Usenet News. In the .alt area alone, there are hundreds of subgroups with discussions ranging from siberian huskies to safe sex.

American National Standards Institute (ANSI) - This organization is responsible for approving U.S. standards in many areas, including computers and communications. Standards approved by this organization are often called ANSI standards (e.g., ANSI C is the version of the C language approved by ANSI). ANSI is a member of ISO. See also: International Organization for Standardization.

American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII) - A standard character-to-number encoding widely used in the computer industry.

anonymous FTP - Anonymous FTP allows a user to retrieve documents, files, programs, and other archived data from anywhere in the Internet without having to establish a userid and password. By using the special userid of "anonymous" the network user will bypass local security checks and will have access to publicly accessible files on the remote system.

ANSI - See: American National Standards Institute

Anti-Virus Scanners - Applications that scan, remove, and innoculate your system against viruses that harm not only individual files but also entire systems. A must if you ftp (file transfer protocol)/download files from the Internet.

API - See: Application Program Interface

Applet - A small program that only works inside of another program. It can't start up on its own because it needs another program's operating system and files. For example, Java applets (e.g. clickable buttons or moving words) need a Java-aware web browser.

application - A program that performs a function directly for a user. eg. FTP, mail and Telnet clients are examples of network applications.

archie - A system to automatically gather, index and serve information on the Internet. The initial implementation of archie provided an indexed directory of filenames from all anonymous FTP archives on the Internet. Later versions provide other collections of information.

archive site - A machine that provides access to a collection of files across the Internet. An "anonymous FTP archive site", for example, provides access to this material via the FTP protocol.

ASCII - See: American Standard Code for Information Interchange

Audio Applications - Programs that play, record, manipulate, and convert music and sounds. The many formats include midi, wav, and au. With Real Audio sound starts playing immediately in your browser. No more long waits for the entire file to download first.