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Definitions from the Sharpened Glossary
Kbps
Stands for "Kilobits Per Second." Don't confuse this with Kilobytes per second (which is 8 times more data per second). This term is commonly used in describing data transfer rates. For example, two common modem speeds are 33.6 Kbps and 56 Kbps.
Kernel
This is a term for the computing elite, so proceed at your own risk. To understand what a kernel is, you first need to know that today's operating systems are built in "layers." Each layer has different functions such as serial port access, disk access, memory management, and the user interface itself. The base layer, or the foundation of the operating system, is called the kernel. The kernel provides the most basic "low-level" services, such as the hardware-software interaction and memory management. The more efficient the kernel is, the more efficiently the operating system will run.
Keyword
A word used to search for or describe information on the Web.
Keyword Density
A measure of the number of times keywords occur within a web page's text divided by the total number of words on a web page.
Key Phrase
Search terms such as a group of words used in a search engine query to find a web page.
Key Prominence
Refers to how high up on a web page a keyword appears.
Key Proximity
Refers to how close keywords are to each other on a web page.
Key Stuffing
Senseless repeating of keywords and key phrases in meta tags or elsewhere.
Kilobyte
A kilobyte consists of 1024 bytes of computer data. Now, I realize this may be a shock to those of you, who for your whole life, thought a kilobyte was 1000 bytes. "But 'kilo' means one thousand!" you exclaim. True, but in the computer world, certain rules and guidelines don't have the same influence they do in most other areas. Just ask any computer programmer. A kilobyte is 1024 bytes because it is measured by 2^10, which equals 1024. However, because 1024 is so close to 1000, in most cases, it is OK to refer to a kilobyte as 1000 bytes.
LAN
Stands for "Local Area Network," and is pronounced like "land" without the "d". (Computer people will think you're weird if you pronouce it "L-A-N"). A LAN is a computer network limited to a small area such as an office building, university, or even a residential home. Most mid to large-sized businesses today use LANs, which makes it easy for employees to share information.
Latency
This is the amount of time it takes a packet of data to move across a network connection. When a packet is being sent, there is "latent" time, when the computer that sent the packet waits for confirmation that the packet has been received. Latency and bandwidth are the two factors that determine your network connection speed.
Link
When you are browsing the Web and you see a highlighted and underlined word or phrase on a page, there is a good chance you are looking at a link. By clicking on a link, you can "jump" to a new Web page or a completely different Web site. While text links are typically blue and underlined, they can be any color and don't have to be underlined. Images can also serve as links to other Web pages. When you move the cursor over a link in a Web page, the arrow will turn into a little hand, letting you know that it is a link. The term "hypertext" comes from the way links can quickly send you to another Web destination.
Link Farm
A collection of web sites that link to each other to artificially boost link popularity.
Link Popularity
The number of inbound links to a particular site. Many search engines use link popularity as a factor in determining the search engine ranking of a web site.
Linux
An open source operating system created by Linus Torvalds. His reason for developing it was that he wasn't happy with the currently available options in UNIX. So he did what anybody else would do, and created his own operating system. He freely distributed his OS, which helped it gain popularity. Today, Linux is used by millions of people around the world. Linux is very customizable and you can actually add your own code to the operating system. Linux is also the OS of choice for many Web hosting companies since it is far cheaper to set up and maintain than a Windows-based server.
Localhost
refers to the local computer that a program is running on. For example, if you are running a Web browser on your computer, your computer is considered to be the "localhost." While this does not need to be specified when using a single computer, the localhost does need to be defined when running programs from multiple computers. For example, a network administrator might use his local machine to start a Web server on one system and use a remote access program on another. These programs would run from computers other than the localhost.
Log File
A file that contains a list of actions that have occurred on your web server. The statistics of your site are created by referencing the activity log file. This file is located in your "log" directory and is entitled "access log".
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