Appendix A: Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

A


Ancestor Node
• An ancestor of a node is one that is a parent, grandparent, great-grandparent, or a more removed grandparent. See Trees.
  
  
  
  

  C

  
  CCB
• The Center for Computational Biology is located at Montana State University.
  
  Child Node
• Nodes can have branches leading to other nodes, called child nodes. See Tree and Parent Node.
  
  Client
• A computer that uses a network to make requests to a server.
  
  Container Widget
• A widget that can have other widgets placed inside of it.
  
  
  
  

  D

  
  Descendant Node
• A descendant of a node is one that is a child, grandchild, great-grandchild or a more removed -grandchild. See Trees.
  
  
  
  

  F

  
  FTP
• File Transfer Protocol. A very common method of moving files between two Internet sites. There are many Internet sites that 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 servers".
  
  
  
  

  G

  
  Grayed Out
• Options that are unable to be selected or chosen.
  
  Group
• Groups are the top level of the hierarchy used to organize data forms. Under each group, the next level is the types of experiments performed in that particular group (lab). The next level is the names of the researchers who have done experiments.
  
  
  
  

  H

  
  Host
• Any computer on a network that is a repository for services available to other computers on the network. It is quite common to have one host machine provide several services, such as SMTP (email) and HTTP (web).
  
  HTTP - HyperText Transfer Protocol
• The protocol for moving hypertext files across the Internet. Requires an HTTP client program on one end, and an HTTP server program on the other end. HTTP is the most important protocol used in the World Wide Web (WWW).
  
  Hypertext
• Generally, any text that contains links to other documents - words or phrases in the document that can be chosen by a reader and which cause another document to be retrieved and displayed.
  
  
  
  
  
  

  J

  
  JXTA
• JXTA provides the protocols for basic functions of peer-to-peer networking, such as creating, finding, joining, leaving and monitoring groups, talking to other groups and peers, and sharing content and services.
  
  
  
  

  L

  
  Label
• A general word or name describing data.
  
  Leaf Node
• Leaf nodes are tree nodes that do not have branches. Leaf nodes cannot have child nodes.
  
  
  
  

  M

  
  Meta-data
• This is secondary data that describes primary data. It answers questions about data. Ex. The name of the person who took a barometric reading, where the barometric reading is the primary data.
  
  Mode
• There are four modes of viewing that can be utilized: Browse, Enter Data, Search, and Create Form. Modes are navigated between by selecting the appropriate tab. Each mode allows for different viewing options and user operations.
  
  
  
  

  N

  
  Node
• A node represents a piece of data in an organizational tree.
  
  
  
  

  P

  
  Parent Node
• The parent of a child node, is the node that has a branch to a leaf or child. See Tree.
  
  Path
• The route to a folder or a file. It consists of the disk drive name, a folder and/or subfolder (if any) and the filename. For example: c:/window/programs/fallderah.exe.
  
  Protocol
• A specification that tells how computers will talk to each other. By standardizing protocols, computers with different operating systems can communicate.
  
  Pop-up
• A small window that appears on top of another window.
  
  
  
  

  Q

  
  Query
• A request sent to a database to retrieve information. These requests can range from simple searches to complicated cross correlations.
  
  
  
  

  R

  
  Relational Database
• A database with tables that must be rigidly defined before the data can be entered, and whose relationships among its records are based on common fields.
  
  Root Node
• The root node is the tree node that has no branches leading to it from other nodes. A root has no parent node. The root is usually used as the label for whole tree.
  
  
  
  

  S

  
  Server
• A computer that handles requests from any client machines on a network. Clients can request web sites, data from databases, files, and mail.
  
  
  
  

  T

  
  Template
• A template is the master data form for a set of experiments. Specific data forms that contain data are created by filling out templates. Templates do not contain data, only the organizational structure for the widgets that will be filled out during data collection.
  
  Tree
• A structure for organizing data that is composed of nodes and branches. Each node represents a piece of information. Nodes can have branches leading to other nodes. One node is labeled the root node. The root has no branches leading to it from other nodes. The root is usually used as the label for whole tree. Leaf nodes are nodes that do not have branches.
  
  
  
  

  U

  
  URL
• A URL is the address of a computer or a document on the Internet that consists of a communications protocol followed by a colon and two slashes (as http://), the identifier of a computer and usually a path through a directory to a file -- called also uniform resource locator, universal resource locator.
  
  
  
  

  W

  
  Widget
  
• Widgets are the organizational elements used in data forms and are analogous to the nodes in an organizational tree. Users are allowed to add and delete widgets. Since most data has a natural hierarchy of importance, widgets can be used as categories that contain other widgets.
  
  
  
  

  X

  
  XML
• Extensible Markup Language is a flexible language for data that makes possible the sharing of data between systems and programs.
  
  XSIL
• Extensible Scientific Interchange Language is the specific XML language used by the data forms. The language was developed by the California Institute of Technology's Center for Advanced Computing Research. For more details read the XSIL: Extensible Scientific Interchange Language.