Reference & Manual > Glossary > N

Name Servers
A computer that performs the mapping of easily remembered domain names to IP addresses. Sometimes referred to as a host server.

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).

Netscape has grown in features rapidly and is widely recognized as the best and most popular web browser. Netscape corporation also produces web server software.

Netscape provided major improvements in speed and interface over other browsers, and has also engendered debate by creating new elements for the HTML language used by Web pages -- but the Netscape extensions to HTML are not universally supported.

The main author of Netscape, Mark Andreessen, was hired away from the NCSA by Jim Clark, and they founded a company called Mosaic Communications and soon changed the name to Netscape Communications Corporation.

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.

Newsgroup
A virtual Internet place where people exchange thoughts, ideas and interests, amuse themselves and do a zillion other things, all by means of text messages.

NIC
(Networked Information Center) -- Generally, any office that handles information for a network. The most famous of these on the Internet is Network Solutions, which is where new domain names are registered. Another definition: NIC also refers to Network Interface Card which plugs into a computer and adapts the network interface to the appropriate standard. ISA, PCI, and PCMCIA cards are all examples of NICs. 

NNTP
(Network News Transport Protocol) -- The protocol used by client and 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.

NT (Windows NT)
An advanced version of the Windows operating system. Windows NT is a 32-bit operating system that supports preemptive multitasking. There are actually two versions of Windows NT: Windows NT Server, designed to act as a server in networks and Windows NT Workstation for stand-alone or client workstations.