09 Applications
Description
This article is from the Amiga Networking FAQ, by Richard Norman with numerous contributions by others.
09 Applications
The applications are the part of the network that a user is most likely to see, but are useless without the hardware and protocols. Applications allow a user to emulate a terminal, copy files, send electronic mail, browse and search databases, and use applications remotely.
Some of the applications are included with the protocol software, but NOT all of them. Some applications are extremely difficult and complex to write and therefore are commercial products.
For TCP-IP I also included NNTP, and HTTP which are protocols, but they ride on top of TCP-IP and therefore constitute a form of a client-server application as opposed to a full protocol.
TCP/IP applications:
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telnet ----- terminal access
telnetd ---- the telnet server which allows incoming telnet connections to your machine
FTP -------- file transfer protocol ( copy files)
FTPd ------- the FTP server which allows incoming FTP connections to your machine SMTP ------- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (email) or Send Mail To People as my friend calls it.
NFS -------- Network File System (remote mount disks) PARnet provides a similar service on a much smaller scale.
NFSd ------- the NFS server which allows incoming NFS connections to your machine
NSLookup -- find address corresponding to a host name or vice-versa. Also provides access to other info in the DNS database
Finger ----- See who is logged in or access info in an X500 email database
Xwindows -- Use graphics programs on a remote system. An attempt at a hardware independent terminal emulator. Cost and speed are its biggest drawbacks.
NEWS ----- A BBS style messaging system global in scale also see the NEWS FAQ
NNTP ------- A protocol that supports NEWS
RN --------- One of many NEWS readers
HTTP ---- Mosaic uses this protocol to talk to WWW WWW servers
IRC -------- Internet Rely Chat, grapevine on the Amiga uses this
DECnet applications:
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Set Host --- Terminal Access host to host
LAT --------- terminal access terminal to host
Copy -------- copy files between DEC hosts (emulated on non-DEC hosts)
VMSmail --- electronic mail (must have gateway to reach non-DEC systems
Dir ---------- Can be used to read remote disks
DECWindows ------ Same as Xwindows
task to task --- Hooks which allow user or vendor written applications to communicate between computers
Ethertalk (Appletalk) applications:
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Appleshare --- Allows remote disk access (file copying)
Chooser ------ Supports network printing and other services including Appleshare
Electronic mail and terminal emulation for Ethertalk must be bought from a third party, and may require TCP/IP or DECnet drivers as well. This is changing with System 7.5 and even more in Copeland. Apple is also introducing AOT (Apple Open Transport) which is API that allows applications to be independent of the network protocol used.
smtp ------
SMTP --- Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
Or the Send Mail To People protocol as my friend calls it. SMTP is a defined standard for email over the TCP/IP protocol and therefore is widely used on the Internet.
html ------------------
HTML stands for HyperText Markup Language.
HTML is used to build WWW pages which can be accessed locally or served to the world using a WWW server running http . HTML files are ASCII text files. The html commands are included with the text and are interpreted by the browser rather than shown. HTML commands include page formatting and URL links. Universal Resource Locators (URL) are the links between this page and other pages throughout the WWW. Any page you view with a browser can be saved locally as an HTML text file. These files can be edited locally which allows you to cut and paste interesting links (URL) into your own HTML page of favorite links.
Although studying how other web pages are built can be helpful, it is not the best way to learn proper HTML.
There are numerous online documents describing HTML, but for the basics take a look at "A beginner's Guide to HTML." For other sources of info on HTML check out the WWWFAQ at
http://sunsite.unc.edu/boutell/faq/
CERN wrote the original HTML and HTTP. NCSA wrote Mosaic and added features to html. Since HTML is an evolving standard, what works on one browser may not work on another browser which uses an earlier version of HTML. HTML 2.0 is the current version, and version 3.0 has been abandoned in favor of version 3.2. The reason was that the market was changing way to fast for the standards process. There is now a more formal organization. For the latest info go to:
http://www.w3.org/
Another problem is that certain server/browser vendors like to throw their weight around and add neat new features which are not part of the standard. This leads to confusion and frustration when someone tries to use a standard browser to access the non-standard page.
WARNING
Would-be web masters beware: You do NOT make a good impression on a _customer_ when you crash their browser and/or machine Please put experimental and non-standard features (crap) on _optional_ pages.
Thus web authors who want the customer to be able to access their info will steer clear of non-standard features on the primary pages, and offer secondary or alternate pages for advanced features. Burying a link to a text page on a non-standard page does NOT work when the non-standard page crashes the customer's browser. So if you want your customer to see your info, you better put the standard pages FIRST!
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