Technical Glossary: B

Term Index

• Backbone
• Bandwidth
• BBS
• Binary
• Binary File
• Bit
• Bitmapped Images
• BPS
• Browser
• BTW
• Byte

Backbone

Major path for a network (high speed, high capactity connections).

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Bandwidth

Amount of data that can pass within a given time period. This is usually terms of seconds. Think of bandwidth as a pipe of water -- the larger the pipe -- the more water can pass in a given time period.

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BBS

Bulletin Board System. Systems that post information and files for people to dial into and look at or download. Most BBSs are run by private organizations and often charged a membership fee. The Internet has deminished the use of BBS because most information is freely available over the Internet, but BBSs were very popular in pre-Internet days.

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Binary

A system of 1's (ones) and 0's (zeros) that the computer is able to understand. Computers can only understand two concepts: "on" and "off". So, 1 represents "on" and 0 represents "off". Basically, everything read by a computer is reduced to a system of ones and zeros (binary).

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Binary File

All non-texted based files. Binary files are usually images, audio data, wordprocessor files, program files, etc. If you were to open a binary file in a text-editor, you would see lots of weird symbols.

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Bit

One binary digit -- which is either 1 (one) or 0 (zero). The computer read this as "on" or "off".

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Bitmapped Images

Bitmapped images are images composed of rows of dots (pixels) that contain color information. A large array of these dots can represent a graphic image. These files are also know as Raster graphic files. Some popular raster graphics fileas are BMP, GIF, JPEG, TIFF, and PNG.

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BPS

Bits Per Second. A popuar way to measure the amout of data that can be transferred on a given system. See Bandwidth. For example, a standard 28.8 modem can transfer upto 28800 bits per second (bps).

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Browser

Also know as a web browser. Software that allows users to look at web pages on the Internet.

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BTW

By The Way. Popular abbreviation used in e-mail, chat rooms, and newsgroup postings.

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Byte

Eight bits.

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Last Updated: Thursday, March 25, 1999