The Computer Folks Glossary

Natural language	A language spoken by human beings , as opposed to an artificially constructed language such as machine language.
Network	A group of connected computers that allow users to share information.
Network administrator	The person responsible for setting up user accounts and maintaining a network.
Network card	An interface card that connects a computer to other computers on a local area network.
Network client software	Programs that are installed on the local hard drive of each workstation and essentially act as a device driver for the network interface card.
Network Communications Protocol	Rules that specify the structure of packets sent over a network.
Network database	A collection of physically linked records, in a one-to-many relationship, that allows more types of relationships than the hierarchical database model.
Network interface card (NIC)	A small circuit board that sends data from a workstation out over the network, and collects incoming data for the workstation.
Network license	Legal permission for the use of a software program by multiple users on a network.
Network operating system (NOS)	Programs designed to control the flow of data, maintain security, and keep track of accounts on a network.
Network printer	A printer on a network to which all network users can send output from their own workstation.
Network resources	Peripherals and application software available to users through a central server on a network.
Network server	A computer connected to a network thaat "serves," or distributes, resources to the network users.
Network server software	Programs installed on a file server thaat controls file access from the server hard drive, manage the print queue, and track user data such as IDs and passwords.
Network service provider (NSP)	A company that maintains a series of nationwide Internet links.
Network standard	A set of communications protocols for the orderly transmission of data over network.
Neural network	A type of expert system that uses computer circuitry to simulate the way in which the brain processes information, learns, and remembers.
Node	Each device on a network, including stations,servers, and printers.
Noise	A disruption of data transmission, usually caused by electrical interference.
Nondedicated file server (peer-to-peer)	A network computer that acts as both a server and a workstation.
Normalization	The process of analyzing data to create the most efficient database structure.
Notebook computer	A small, lightweight portable computer.
Novell NetWare	A network operating system produced by Novell, Inc.
NSAPI (Netscape Server Application Program Interface)	A high-performance interface used to interact with Web-based databases.
Numeric analysis software	Computer programs, such as spreadsheets, graphing packages , and statistical packages, that simplify the task of constructing and analyzing numeric models.
Numeric data	Numbers that represent quantities and can be used in arithmetic operations.
Numeric data type	A data type assigned to fields in a data file containing numbers that can be manipulated mathematically.