I

icon

A small picture that represents an entity such as a program, document, folder, or disk.

iDisk

A service within the .Mac service that provides remote storage accessible via the Internet.

inbound port mapping

A scheme for directing all requests coming into a local network from the Internet for a particular service, such as a Web server, to a particular computer on the local network.

inherited permissions

Privileges that propagate from a parent folder to child folders and all files within.

initialization

A process that creates a blank disk directory. The effect is the same as erasing the disk. Initialization actually wipes out the means of accessing the existing files on the disk without actually touching the content of files.

insertion point

A blinking vertical bar that indicates where text is inserted when you start typing.

installation

The process of putting a new or updated version of software on your disk.

Internet

A worldwide network that provides email, Web pages, news, file storage and retrieval, and other services and information.

Internet gateway

A device or software that enables all the computers on a local network to connect to the Internet, optionally sharing a single public IP address on the Internet.

Internet Service Provider (ISP)

A company that gives you access to the Internet via your modem.

interpreted

The technique used by Unix shells and other scripting languages such as Perl to perform each command as it is encountered rather than converting all commands to machine instructions in advance.

interprocess communication

The technology that enables programs to send each other messages requesting action and receiving the results of requested actions. Mac OS X has several forms of interprocess communication, one of which is Apple events, which is the basis of AppleScript.

IP address

A 32-bit binary number, such as 192.168.0.1, that uniquely identifies a computer or other device on a network.

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Technology)

A special telephone technology that allows for medium-speed network transmissions over long distances.