NAS:  See Storage.

NASCENT:  A fancy word for “new” or “emerging” or “just coming into existence”.  Thus, nascent technology is “new” technology, possibly emerging from an older technology!  (Encryption technology was a nascent technology arising out of e-mail technology.)  The opposite of nascent is LEGACY, which means “old”.  Daisy wheel printers are legacy hardware; Wordstar word processing software is legacy software.

NAT:  Network Address Translation.  NAT is usually used to translate a “private” IP address to a “public” IP address, often through a router or firewall.  The “public” will see only the address leading to your private (sometimes called “outside”) network, but not the private (“inside”) addresses for each computer on the network, which remains hidden and is protected because each incoming or outgoing request must go through a translation process that also offers the opportunity to qualify or authenticate the request or match it to a previous request.  For more discussion, refer to this Link.

NATURAL LANGUAGE:  Refers to a language spoken by humans.  For example, you can enable natural language in Windows Search rather than queries.

NATIVE FORM:  Refers to the “original form.”  For example, many applications can work with files in a variety of formats by converting the files to that applications own native format, but that applications native format is the one that it uses internally.  So, when Sun claims that Star Office works with Mac OS X in its native format, this means that the program is written in OS X format, and does not have to be converted for it to be used.

EN DASH: See, EM Dash.

NEGROPONTE, NICHOLAS: An American architect who was the founder of the MIT Media Lab, best known as the founder of the One Laptop Per Child Association.  (See, OLPC)  He was also involved in the creation of Wired Magazine, as an initial investor and columnist.

NETCASTING: See, Push Technology.

NETIQUETTE: The etiquette on the Internet.

NETIZEN: Derived from the word citizen, this refers to a citizen of the Internet, someone who uses networked resources, connoting participation and responsibility.

NETSCAPE: One of the two most popular web browsers in the 1990s - Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Developed by a team led by Marc Andreesen in about 1993, it was originally known as Mosaic, and it was the first Web browser which had a GUI.  Andreesen and Jim Clark brought the browser public in 1995, which was really the beginning of the Internet boom.  However, because Microsoft’s Internet Explorer came bundled with Microsoft’s Windows 95 Operating System, a lengthy anti-trust suit was brought by the U.S. Dept. of Justice against Microsoft. Although Netscape won, years later, as a result of the dispute, Netscape’s share of the browser market declined substantially and eventually became acquired by AOL. When Time Warner disbanded AOL in 2003, the browser reverted to Netscape’s web site for download; the Netscape brand also created “Propeller,” a social bookmarking and news site.  In 1998, Netscape started the open-source Mozilla project which developed the popular Mozilla web browser.

NETWARE: One of the early, now obsolete, PC networking programs from Novell.

NET NEUTRALITY:  The concept that all users of the Internet (whether they are individuals or businesses, minimal users or high-end bandwidth users) are entitled to the same bandwidth speeds from their ISPs.  For years now, the ISPs have been pressing a “tiered” delivery and price structure, charging more to high bandwidth users who upload and download large files, watch streaming video or use constant Internet service, less to users who only pick up e-mail and the occasional web site. Opponents of this structure charge that this gives the ISPs control over which content will move fast and which should be slowed down, and to charge for higher speed connections accordingly.  In 2010, to everyone’s surprise, Google and Verizon joined forces to agree on net neutrality to a point, then a tiered structure thereafter, so the days of net neutrality may well be numbered.   For further information, see the discussion in the Laws section.

NETWORKS:  A computer network consists of two or more computers (and typically other devices, such as printers, modems, routers and switches) that are linked together so that they can communicate with each other and exchange data and resources.  Each device on the network is called a “node” and each node is connected through a variety of cables or wirelessly to the other devices on the network. 

Each network also has its own topology or layout [i.e. bus, star, tree, tier, ring, etc.  (see diagram under Topology definition)].  Small networks are called LANs (local area networks), typically within a single building.  Wide Area Networks (WANs) cover much larger areas and are typically connected via telephone or radio networks.  MANs (Metropolitan Area Networks) can serve entire towns, cities or college campuses.  A subnetwork (“subnet”) is is a logically visible subdivision of an IP network. Flat networks, sometimes called “switched networks,”  are networks in which all workstations are directly connected to each other, except for the presence of switches, and can communicate without the need for intermediate devices such as routers. A flat network is one without subnets, and as a result, its topology is not divided into layers or modules. Every station on a flat network receives a copy of every message sent. Security is therefore poor and it is not possible to establish alternative paths to destinations. A flat network is the opposite of segmented network, one which is broken up into groups in order to contain broadcast traffic and thus improve performance and security. 

An internet is a collection of smaller networks; the Internet is the worldwide network of interconnected internets using a standardized communication protocol called TCP/IP.  An intranet is a private network within an organization that uses the same protocols as the Internet.  When all of part of an intranet is made accessible outside the intranet (e.g. to suppliers or customers) that part becomes an extranet.

See also, Host, Peer-to-Peer, Internet, Public vs. Private, and LAN Diagram, Topology.

NEURAL NETWORK (“NN” or “ANN”):  In computing, a system of programs and data structures that approximate the operation of the human brain by assimilating large amounts of data and knowledge and then using algorithms, fuzzy logic, Bayesian logic and other arithmetic and AI methods to determine how to behave in response to various situations.  It is so named because, like the human brain, it consists of a group of interconnected “neurons” and is an adaptive system based on the internal and external information fed to the “brain” during the learning phase, is trained to spot relationships and patterns in learned data and can build upon itself.  It is thought that the Internet itself mimics a neural network.

NEWTON: The first personal digital assistant (“PDA”) developed by Apple between 1989 and 1998, running the Newton operating system, which included such features as Calligrapher, a handwriting recognition system.  Alas, it had no desktop connectivity.  And a very short battery lifetime.  For these and other reasons, the Newton had limited customer acceptance.  It was followed by the MessagePad, although neither product ever gained wide acceptance.  Many think that, in hindsight, it was just too far ahead of its time. See iPad, Tablet.

NeXT: A computer (and a company) created by Steve Jobs (one of Apple’s founders) and sold starting in 1988.  A futuristic black cube with a hi-res display and graphic interface, it was ahead of its time from a design standpoint and had few programs that could take advantage of its speed and graphic abilities.  It used a then-unheard-of 64-bit operating system called NeXTStep.  By 1993, it was discontinued, although Jobs continued to offer OpenStep, the object-oriented components of NeXTStep.  In 1996, when Apple re-hired Jobs, it also purchased NeXT software, later offering OpenStep as a development environment for object-oriented applications running on multiple platforms.

NEXTED: A slang term used in chat rooms to denote when one of the parties to a chat discontinues the conversation and moves on to the “next” chatter e.g. on such sites as lookingatchu.com.

NEXT GEN: See, “G”.  The “next generation” of hardware or software.

NIC: “Network Interface Card”.  This is a card that inserts into your computer that allows you to connect to a wireless network.  It can be either wired to accept an ethernet cable, or wireless (using a built-in antenna).

NIM: Network Interface Module.  A piece of elecronic equipment attached to a coaxial outlet with an ethernet jack on it which can then be attached to a router.

NK2: This is the file in a computer program which governs “autocompletion”.  For example, the file which completes the Outlook email address in a new message.  It is a complicated and proprietary algorithm, and is not an MRU (“Most Recently Used”) or other type of file.

NLA: Network Location Awareness.  This Windows service is responsible for collecting and maintaining network configuration and location information and notifying applications when it changes.  When you move from your office wireless network to Starbucks Wi-Fi with your computer, NLA makes sure your computer’s applications are aware of this change.

NoSQL: Not Only SQL; See SQL for more.

NODE: Any intelligent device connected to a network.  This can be not only a computer, but a server, a printer or any other connected device.

NONCE: A term used in security engineering as an abbreviation for “number used once.”  A random number (like a “salt” hash) issued in an authentication protocol to ensure that it is used only once.

NON-VOLATILE: A general term for all forms of solid state (no moving parts) memory that do not need to have their memory contents constantly refreshed such as RAM, i.e. the memory is saved after the device is turned off.  This would include NAND (see above), ROM, PROM, EPROM, EEPROM, FLASH, AND battery powered RAM.  See also, Firmware.

NOR: See Flash Memory.  This is a type of flash memory which first came to market from Toshiba in 1988, which has long erase and write times, but provides full address and data buses, allowing random access to any memory location.

NPC: Non Player Character.  Refers to a character in a MMORPG that is computer controlled rather than a player avatar.

NSFW: Not Safe For Work.  A term used to describe Internet content (e.g. e-mails) generally inappropriate for the typical workplace and which would be unacceptable in the presence of your boss or colleagues.  Opposite is SFW (Safe For Work).

NTFS - NT file system, sometimes New Technology File System, is one of the two most common file systems (the way in which files are named and where they are placed logically for storage and retrieval) used by Windows.  The other is FAT .  NTFS is considered faster and more desirable.  The file allocation table is an area on a hard or other disk where information is stored about the physical location of each piece of every file on the disk and also about the location of unusable areas of the disk. See also File System.

NULL MODEM CABLE - A special cable used for connecting two computers in close proximity, usually for data transfer, in which the sending and receiving wires are physically crossed.  The cable is attached to either the serial ports or parallel (slightly faster) ports of both machines and simulates a telephone modem transfer.  It derives its name from the fact that it does not require a telephone or a modem to transfer files, but instead does so directly with the cable.   Not used very often now, with the demise of serial and parallel ports on modern computers and the rise of portable USB drives and (faster) Internet file transfer utilities.

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