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Appendix

Switching hub

A network connection box to which a number of computers can be connected. The switching hub forwards a data packet from the network to the appropriate computer according to the packet’s address. Conventional hubs simply send every packet to every connected computer. Since a switching hub forwards packets only to their intended recipients, it provides greater efficiency.

TCP/IP

Acronym for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. The protocol used to connect to the Internet and to wide-area networks.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator. A standard way of specifying the location of an object, usually a web page, on the Internet. The URL for a web page would look something like this: "http://www.w3.org/default.html". Here, “http:” indicates that a web page is being accessed, “http://www.w3.org” is the address of the server containing the web page, and “default.html” is the file name under which the web page is stored on the server.

Vector Graphics

(See definition for Raster.)

WAN

Wide Area Network.

3-10Glossary