INTERNET APPPLICATIONS:-

Internet:
A global network connecting millions of computers. More than 100 countries are linked
into exchanges of data, news and opinions. Unlike online services, which are centrally
controlled, the Internet is decentralized by design. Each Internet computer, called a host,
is independent. Its operators can choose which Internet services to use and which local
services to make available to the global Internet community. Remarkably, this anarchy by
design works exceedingly well. There are a variety of ways to access the Internet. Most
online services, such as America Online, offer access to some Internet services. It is also
possible to gain access through a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP).

1. E-MAIL:
One of the earliest applications of computer networks was exchanging
messages and files among users of the network. When networks expanded into internet a
logical step was to exchange messages among persons spread out all over the world. it
soon became one of the most popular applications of the internet and was called
electronic mail or e-mail .E-mail system is so reliable today that people use it for
important communications and don’t send the so-called postal copy for confirmation. The
use of e-mail has expanded with provisions to attach pictures and audio files to text.
Current e-mail systems provide the following facilities:
• Send a message to a specified recipient or a group of recipients
• Send a message that includes as an attachment a text, audio, graphics or video
file.
• Send a message along with a program which can be executed at the recipient’s
computer and send a reply.
In order to be able to send or receive e-mail you need a unique address. It is similar
to need to have a postal address if you want to receive letters. The e-mail address has the
form:
yourname@name of your e-mail server assigned by domain name server
For example, my e-mail address is:
bhargavroyal4mgrt@gmail.com

My id for e-mail e-mail server

if you want to send e-mail from your home you need to have;
a. A telephone connection
B.A modem in your computer.
Most recent computers have a built-in modem which can
transmit/received @56.6Kbps.If your computer doesn’t have a built-in modem
Which is usually connected to a serial port of your computer?
C.The ISP will provide you an e-mail id and allow you to use a secret password of your
own to access your mail boxes.
D.It is possible to have files attached to your mail like ASCII, jpeg, tif, mp3, etc.

2. INFORMATION BROWSING SERVICE

One of the most important and widely used applications using the internet is
known as information browsing. By information browsing we mean: ``to re trive and
display specified information stored in one or more computers connected to a computer
network”. Browsing also implies interactivity. In other words, one should be able to read
what is displayed and, based on it, able to access other related information which may be
stored on the same or any other computer. Other tasks can also be performed by browsers
which are:
• Obtain text, graphics, audio or video information from a variety of remote
computers connected to the network.
• Displays obtain information on your VDU if it is text. If you have a multimedia
computer then audio, graphics, video can be presented.
• Store retrieved information in your disk.
• Print the retrieved text/graphics.
The term computer network we have used in the definition may be a LAN, WAN,
internet or intranet.
These types of browsings are two types
A) Menu Based Browsing
B) Hypertext Based Browsing

3. THE WORLD WIDE WEB

Another major application of the internet is known as the World Wide
Web or web. The web has become most important information infrastructure in the world
and has a user base of billions. At the touch of a terminal button we can get information
from the all corners of globe. It has also enabled many other services such as
e-commerce, e-governance, e-publishing etc.
TIM Berners-Lee was in 1989 build software which will use this
infrastructure effectively to retrieve documents Stored in various servers spread across
laboratories. He designed a new set of rules for computers to retrieve textual data from
remote servers. This was called Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP).

The next step was to describe a notation to mark keywords in documents for ease of
search and retrieval .This was called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).
The final step was to assign a unique address specifying the server connected to the
internet in which the document resided and how to access it. It was called a Universal
Resource Locator (URL).

The next crucial step was the development of hypertext browser by Mark Andersen and
his team of programmers at the National Centre for Supercomputer Applications at the
University of Illinois. This was called Mosaic Web browser and was the software which
really opened up the World Wide Web as we know it today.
URL of an organization is:
http://www.bitit.org

Access protocol Domain name of server which hosts the web page

4. INFORMATION RETRIEVAL FROM THE WWW:

One of the best way of searching for information on the web is to start with a known
website which will lead you to other similar sites via hypertext links. It is advisable to
store these URLs with what is known as bookmarks.Bookmarking tool is available with
all browsers.
A) Resource Directories:
If you don’t know any URL it is a good idea to use what are known as
Internet resource directories. These directories normally categorize resources by subjects
and resource type. There are two types of resource directories. Some ex of general
purpose directories are yahoo.com, einet.com.Some ex of societies in the subject area
Americal Mathematical Society (ams.org), American Chemical Society (acs.org).

B) Search Engine Based Retrieval:

Currently the most popular method of retrieving documents from the
World Wide Web is to use what are known as search engines. The
following sties provide search engines:
a. Google.com
b. Altavista.com
c. Lycos.com
India specific search engine sties are:
• Searchindia.com
• Khoj.com
We will consider currently popular search engine google.com as an example and examine
the facilities available in it for information retrieval.http://www.searchenginewatch.com
Goggle allows search queries using phrase which can be used in a query. It is quite
different from the term “computer”and”network” which will retrieve too many irrelevant
documents.