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Samson's Questions & Answers

Total Points: 0

Answers Given: 20

Questions Asked: 138

Best Answers: 20

What is WAIS?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:53 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

Stands for "Wide Area Information Server." This is a program that can index enormous amounts of information and make it searchable across large networks (including the Internet). People can search the WAIS index and it will return results by relevance. Searches can then be narrowed down by subsequent searches on the original results. Search engines are a new and improved version of WAIS, specifically for the Web.

Answered at 11:30 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is WAN?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:54 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

Stands for "Wide Area Network." It is similar to a Local Area Network (LAN), but it's a lot bigger. Unlike LANs, WANs are not limited to a single location. Many wide area networks span long distances via telephone lines, fiber-optic cables, or satellite links. They can also be composed of smaller LANs that are interconnected. The Internet could be described as the biggest WAN in the world. You could even call the Internet a Super WAN BAM if you wanted to. Or maybe not.

Answered at 11:28 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is Waveform?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:54 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

A waveform is an image that represents an audio signal or recording. It shows the changes in amplitude over a certain amount of time. The amplitude of the signal is measured on the y-axis (vertically), while time is measured on the x-axis (horizontally). Most audio recording programs show waveforms to give the user a visual idea of what has been recorded. If the waveform is very low and not pronounced, the recording was probably very soft. It the waveform almost fills the entire image, the recording may have been too "hot" or recorded with the levels set too high. Changes in a waveform are also good indicators as too when certain parts of a recording take place. For example, the waveform may be small when there is just a vocalist singing, but may become much larger when the drums and guitar come in. This visual representation enables audio producers to locate certain parts of a song without even listening to the recording.

Answered at 11:26 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is Web Ring?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:56 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

A Web ring is a way of interlinking related Web sites so that people can visit many similar Web sites by just following the "Web ring" link on each page. Most Web rings allow people to browse backwards or forwards through the sites in the ring, or choose to visit individual sites from a list. The rings are typically run from a main site which uses a Web scripting application to select random sites and keep the ring up to date. This includes getting rid of outdated pages and links, and adding new ones. There are tens of thousands of Web rings for topics like football, cars, celebrities, computers, TV shows, etc. You can tell if a Web page is part of Web ring if on the bottom of the page it has some huge, obtrusive, off-color, button linking to other sites in the ring.

Answered at 11:19 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is Web Page?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:56 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

Web pages are what make up the World Wide Web. These documents are written in HTML (hypertext markup language) and are translated by your Web browser. Web pages can either be static or dynamic. Static pages show the same content each time they are viewed. Dynamic pages have content that can change each time they are accessed. These pages are typically written in scripting languages such as PHP, Perl, ASP, or JSP. The scripts in the pages run functions on the server that return things like the date and time, and database information. All the information is returned as HTML code, so when the page gets to your browser, all the browser has to do is translate the HTML. Please note that a Web page is not the same thing as a Web site. A Web site is a collection of pages. A Web page is an individual HTML document. This is a good distinction to know, as most techies have little tolerance for people who mix up the two terms.

Answered at 11:22 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is Web Host?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:55 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

In order to publish a website online, you need a Web host. The Web host stores all the pages of your website and makes them available to computers connected to the Internet. The domain name, such as "sony.com," is actually linked to an IP address that points to a specific computer. When somebody enters your domain name into their browser's address field, the IP address is located and Web site is loaded from your Web host. A Web host can have anywhere from one to several thousand computers that run Web hosting software, such as Apache, OS X Server, or Windows Server. Most websites you see on the Web are accessed from a "shared host," which is a single computer that can host several hundred Web sites. Larger websites often use a "dedicated host," which is a single machine that hosts only one website. Sites with extremely high amounts of traffic, such as apple.com or microsoft.com, use several computers to host one site. If you want to publish your own website, you'll need to sign up for a "Web hosting service." Finding a good Web host shouldn't be too hard, since their are thousands available. Just make sure the Web host you choose offers good technical support and ensures little or no downtime. You'll usually have to pay a monthly fee that varies depending on how much disk space and bandwidth your site will use. So it's a good idea to estimate how big your site will be and how much traffic you expect before signing up for a Web hosting service.

Answered at 11:24 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is Website?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:58 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

A website, or Web site, is not the same thing as a Web page. Though the two terms are often used interchangeably, they should not be. So what's the difference? To put it simply, a Web site is a collection of Web pages. For example, Amazon.com is a Web site, but there are millions of Web pages that make up the site. Knowing the difference between these two terms can save you a lot of embarrassment.

Answered at 11:12 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is Webmail?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:57 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

There are two primary ways of checking your e-mail — using an e-mail program like Microsoft Outlook or with a Web-based interface called webmail. When you check or send e-mail via the Web, you are using webmail. Most free e-mail services, such as Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo! Mail offer webmail interfaces that allow you to send, receive, and organize your e-mail on the Web. If you own a domain name, many Web hosts also offer a webmail interface to use with your domain name or website. Some common webmail systems supported by Web hosts include Horde, NeoMail, and SquirrelMail. Because webmail is run from a server, the messages downloaded to your inbox are saved on the mail server. This is convenient since you can check your mail and browse old messages from any computer as long as you have an Internet connection. The downside is that, since the messages are not downloaded to your computer, you need an Internet connection to view your messages — even ones that you have already viewed. If you only have one e-mail account, webmail may be the simplest way to check, send, and manage your e-mail. However, if you regularly use multiple e-mail accounts, a software e-mail client like Microsoft Outlook or Mac OS X Mail may be a better choice.

Answered at 11:16 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is Webmaster?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 10:57 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

The webmaster is the person in charge of maintaining a Web site. The jobs of a webmaster include writing HTML for Web pages, organizing the Web site's structure, responding to e-mails about the Web site, and keeping the site up-to-date. On some Web sites you might see a phrase that says, "send dead links and other Web site problems to webmaster@domainame.com." At times, being a webmaster can be a rather arduous job. I received some dead links in the mail one time, and let me tell you, it wasn't pretty.

Answered at 11:14 PM on September 15, 2007

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What is WEP?

Asked by Andrew in Computers & Technology at 11:00 PM on September 15, 2007

Samson's Answer

Stands for "Wired Equivalent Privacy." WEP is a security protocol for Wi-Fi networks. Since wireless networks transmit data over radio waves, it is easy to intercept data or "eavesdrop" on wireless data transmissions. The goal of WEP is to make wireless networks as secure as wired networks, such as those connected by Ethernet cables. The wired equivalent privacy protocol adds security to a wireless network by encrypting the data. If the data is intercepted, it will be unrecognizable to system that intercepted the data, since it is encrypted. However, authorized systems on the network will be able to recognize the data because they all use the same encryption algorithm. Systems on a WEP-secured network can typically be authorized by entering a network password.

Answered at 11:07 PM on September 15, 2007

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