hop

1. messaging One point-to-point transmission in a series

required to get a message from point A to point B on a storeand forward network. On such networks (including UUCPNET

and FidoNet), an important inter-machine metric is the hop

count of the shortest path between them. This can be more

significant than their geographical separation.

Each exclamation mark in a bang path represents one hop.

2. networking One direct host-to-host connection forming

part of the route between two hosts in a routed network

such as the Internet. Some protocols place an upper limit

on the hop count in order to detect routing loops.

3. jargon, networking To log in to a remote computer,

especially via rlogin or telnet. "I'll hop over to foovax

to FTP that."

[Jargon File]

(1997-06-25)