E-lingo: knowing your Net terminologyNAME GAME: James Catchpole and Simon Walker translate the cyber jargon Many people hear terms that are integral to the function of the Internet and the development of e-commerce without understanding them.

This is the second...Many people hear terms that are integral to the function of the Internet and the development of e-commerce without understanding them.

This is the second instalment of a guide to some of the more commonplace expressions.

l P2P (peer-to-peer) hit the headlines with its association with Napster.

It is a communications model where personal computers or servers, with the same capabilities and operating in the same manner, talk to one another.

P2P has become synonymous with transient networks created between users, with the same networking program, directly to access each others hard drives and exchange files (such as MP3 music files).

l Packet switching is the method for moving data around the Internet.

All data sent out over the Internet is broken down into chunks, or packets, each addressed to identify where it originates and where it is going, and the number it is in the chain of packets being sent.

Packets are then sent separately, via many routes (allowing packets from many different sources to mingle on the same lines), and are recombined at the destination to form the original message.l FTP (file transfer protocol) is a common method of moving files between two Internet sites.

FTP is a special way to log in to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files many sites have established publicly accessible repositories of material that can be obtained using FTP, by logging in using the account name anonymous, thus these sites are called anonymous ftp.

l HTML (hyper text markup language) is a coding language used to create hypertext documents for the World Wide Web.

Intended to be viewed by browser programs such as Netscape or Mosaic, HTML files are blocks of text with codes indicating how it should appear, and can be used to link words to other files to create hypertext documents, which permit browsers to interpret and display sites.

Therefore, hypertext is text that contains links to other documents words or phrases in a document that can be clicked on by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.l HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) moves hypertext files across the Internet and requires a HTTP client program on one end and a HTTP server program on the other end.

It is one of the most import protocols on the Internet.l TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) is the program that every Internet user must use to be part of the Internet.

It is the Internets communication language.

An IP number is a number that identifies each machine on the Internet for communication and location purposes.James Catchpole, member of the IP, IT and digital business group at Landwell UK; Simon Walker, head of e-business for Landwell UK