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Delta Web Design 4036 Cypress Gardens Drive Fort Worth, Texas 76123-1440 PH 817-370-1169 FX 817-370-7212 E-mail Delta Privacy Statement |
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| INTERNET DICTIONARY - LETTER "F" | |
| F2F | Face to Face - A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum. |
| FARNET | A non-profit corporation, established in 1987, whose mission is to advance the use of computer networks to improve research and education. |
| FastCGI | An open extension to CGI that provides higher performance by reusing processes to handle multiple requests. |
| Fast Ethernet | Fast Ethernet is an upgraded standard for connecting computers into a local area network (LAN). It works just like regular Ethernet except that it can transfer data at a peak rate of 100 mbps. Also referred to as 100BaseT, fast Ethernet is more expensive and less common than its slower 10BaseT sibling. |
| fat binary | When you see a download or another program labeled "fat binary," it means that the program is a little larger than a regular application. This is because a fat binary program can take full advantage of two hardware platforms: the Macintosh and the Power Mac. |
| FAQ | Frequently Asked Questions - A list of questions and answers related to a newsgroup, software, Web site, or whatever. FAQ lists prevent newsgroup discussions from being overrun by common user questions. |
| FDDI | See: Fiber Distributed Data Interface |
| Federal Information Exchange (FIX) | One of the connection points between the American governmental internets and the Internet. Source: SURA |
| Federal Networking Council (FNC) | The coordinating group of representatives from those federal agencies involved in the development and use of federal networking, especially those networks using TCP/IP and the Internet. Current members include representatives from DOD, DOE, DARPA, NSF, NASA, and HHS. See also: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, National Science Foundation. |
| Fetch | A Macintosh program that uses FTP (file transfer protocol) to transfer files from your computer onto a server, or vice versa. This allows you to write files on your local computer in whatever editor you like, and then place the files on the server when finished. NOTE: Windows users see FTP for more information. |
| Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) | A high-speed (100Mb/s) LAN standard. The underlying medium is fiber optics, and the topology is a dual-attached, counter- rotating token ring. See also: Local Area Network, token ring. Source: RFC1208 |
| fiber optics | A method of transmitting light beams along optical fibers. A light beam, such as that produced by a laser, can be modulated to carry information. |
| FIDO | Framework for Interdisciplinary Design Optimization - A general programming environment for automating the distribution of complex computing tasks over a networked system of heterogeneous computers. |
| file compression | This makes computer data smaller so less is needed to represent the same information and, consequently, the information takes up less disk or file space and may be transmitted in less time. Files which contain more sophisticated data such as those to produce audio, video, JAVA, VRML, Shockwave and other multimedia are usually compressed quite thoroughly before made accessible over the Internet. Many shareware or freeware programs found on the Internet come compressed in one of many different formats like .ZIP, .HQX, .BIN or in a self-extracting EXE form. Programs such as StuffIt are available to make the decompression of a compressed file easy and fast. |
| file extension | The group of letters after a period or "dot" in a file name, is called the file extension. This extension refers to the type of file it is, for example, if the filename is readme.txt, the extension txt denotes this is a text file and can be viewed using a text editor such as notepad or simple text. Operating systems such as MAC OS or Windows 95 will refer to a file's extension when choosing which application to launch when a user clicks on a particular file name. |
| file transfer | The copying of a file from one computer to another over a computer network. See also: File Transfer Protocol, Kermit. |
| File Transfer Protocol | The common procedure or protocol used for downloading and uploading files via the Internet. With FTP you can login to another Internet site and transfer files. Some sites have public file archives that you can access by using FTP with the account name "anonymous" and your e-mail address as password. This type of access is called anonymous ftp. Macintosh users use a program called Fetch and one of the FTP programs for Windows is WS-FTP. The feature is part of the TCP/IP/TELNET software suite. See also: anonymous FTP and FTP FAQ's |
| Film at 11 | One reaction to an overwrought argument: "Imminent death of the Net predicted. Film at 11." |
| Finger | A piece of software that lets you find out more information about an Internet user like their real name and if they are logged in at the present moment, usually if that user is on a UNIX or VAX system. It is also possible to finger someone from the World Wide Web. You can do so by visiting a Web site like HyperFinger or using the form below. Enter in the e- mail address of someone and push the finger button. |
| fire off | An expression used around the office meaning to send out an e-mail. For example: "I've got to fire off an e-mail to New York by noon!" |
| Firewall | A collection of hardware, software, and administrative processes used to effect a secure network. A barrier configured to contain designated traffic within a specified area (e.g., routers and other internet working devices) using technical control mechanisms to filter and restrict traffic into and out of the internal network environment. |
| FIX | See: Federal Information Exchange |
| flame | A strong opinion and/or criticism of something, usually as a frank inflammatory statement, in an electronic mail message. It is common to precede a flame with an indication of pending fire (i.e., FLAME ON!). Flame Wars occur when people start flaming other people for flaming when they shouldn't have. See also: Electronic Mail |
| flame bait | An intentionally inflammatory posting in a newsgroup or discussion group designed to elicit a strong reaction thereby creating a flame war. |
| flame war | When an online discussion degenerates into a series of personal attacks against the debators, rather than discussion of their positions. A heated exchange. |
| Flaming | Flaming is the practice of launching verbal assaults on some one or their beliefs on the Internet. In the past this has occurred primarily on lists and newsgroups, however it has begun to appear in other internet media of late. Flaming essentially happens for one of two reasons: either because the lack of physical and/or vocal cues normal to a conversation are missing online, leading to a misunderstanding, or for malicious reasons. When two or more parties begin to "flame" one another, the result is referred to as a "flame war". |
| FNC | See: Federal Networking Council |
| Forms | Forms allow two-way interaction on the Web. Essentially they operate on the metaphor of a fill-in the blank form. By filling in blanks that appear on a Web page, the user is able to send mail, conduct interactive searches and database queries, and make comments which can be incorporated. Forms work by taking the information typed into the form and passing it to a program called a script, which then uses that information in its execution. The results may then be returned to the user, or sent to a specific site. (Cf. CGI) |
| For Your Information (FYI) | A subseries of RFCs that are not technical standards or descriptions of protocols. FYIs convey general information about topics related to TCP/IP or the Internet. See also: Request For Comments, STD. |
| follow up | A Usenet posting that is a response to an earlier message. |
| foo/foobar | A sort of online algebraic place holder, for example: "If you want to know when another site is run by a for-profit company, look for an address in the form of |
| form | Sometimes called a feedback form or interactive form - Sections of Web pages that accept user input. You can usually input comments, order products, or search for information with these forms. |
| fortune cookie | An inane/witty/profound comment that can be found around the net. |
| For Your Information | A shorthand appended to a comment written in an online forum. |
| FQDN | See: Fully Qualified Domain Name |
| fractal | A word coined in 1975 by Benoit B. Mandlebrot from the Latin fractus ("to break"), is, in the words of one fractal creator, a shape with the property of "self-similarity". |
| fragment | A piece of a packet. When a router is forwarding an IP packet to a network that has a maximum packet size smaller than the packet size, it is forced to break up that packet into multiple fragments. These fragments will be reassembled by the IP layer at the destination host. |
| fragmentation | The IP process in which a packet is broken into smaller pieces to fit the requirements of a physical network over which the packet must pass. See also: reassembly. |
| frame | A frame is a datalink layer "packet" which contains the header and trailer information required by the physical medium. That is, network layer packets are encapsulated to become frames. See also: datagram, encapsulation, packet. |
| frame relay | This ANSI/ITU-T-standard packet interface protocol has a few advantages over ISDN. For one thing, you can purchase frame relay lines in increments between 56kbps and 1.5 mbps (equivalent to a T1 connection). The protocol also has a flat-rate billing structure instead of a per-hour usage charge. But frame relay is designed for data transfer only, so it's not well suited to videoconferencing or any other voice application. Frame relay is sometimes confused with a leased line. Both are used primarily to extend a local area network (LAN) between business branches. However, a leased line is a dedicated line permanently connected between sites, and frame relay uses the telephone company's shared network on an as-needed basis. |
| frames | A term used to describe a viewing and layout style of a World Wide Web site, it refers to the simultaneous loading of 2 or more Web pages at the same time within the same screen. Some Web sites come in two versions; a "frames" and "no frames" version. The frames version usually takes a little longer to load and may contain other "enhanced" features such as Java and Animation. |
| frame source | The same as document source but relating to a particular frame on a Web site. |
| Free Agent | A popular online/offline news and mail reader product for Windows. The Agent products are designed to help you navigate around the world of Usenet. These Agents make it easy and efficient to collect and organize your news, AND they can save you money by allowing you to read news and mail messages offline! Free Agent and Agent are your guides to a universe of news, fun, and information. |
| freenet | Community-based bulletin board system with email, information services, interactive communications, and conferencing. Freenets are funded and operated by individuals and volunteers -- in one sense, like public television. They are part of the National Public Telecomputing Network (NPTN), an organization based in Cleveland, Ohio, devoted to making computer telecommunication and networking services as freely available as public libraries. Source: LAQUEY |
| freeware | Free software available on the Internet that can be downloaded, used and redistributed at no cost to the user as opposed to shareware which are programs that require a registration fee be paid after a certain amount of time. |
| FTP | See: File Transfer Protocol |
| full duplex | Means the same as duplex which is simulataneous bidirectional communications. Both sides send and receive with virtually no turnaround time. Or data transmission that takes place in two directions simultaneously as opposed to half duplex which also allows transmission in two directions but only one at a time and simplex in which transmission can only be sent in one direction. When used in reference to sound cards and Internet phones such as WebPhone and IPhone this means the ability to send and receive audio at the same time like a standard telephone. Some sound cards and systems require a special full duplex audio driver which is software usually available from either the manufacturer of the sound card or the program itself. |
| Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) | The FQDN is the full name of a system, rather than just its hostname. For example, "venera" is a hostname and "venera.isi.edu" is an FQDN. See also: hostname, Domain Name System. |
| FYI | See: For Your Information |
