Brief Detail of Internet

The Internet is network of networks

It started as ARPANET
o The US military network for communications in the late 1960s / early 1970s
Its growth has been very fast
The internet is a multi-protocol network of networks.
o That means there are lots of different computers
o All computers talking different languages across networks
Which are all connected together via internet
o And using different protocols (languages) to do different things
To send electronic mails: SMTP
To read network news: NNTP
To browse the world wide web: HTTP
To transfer files between machines: FTP
To log on to remote machines: TELNET
Networks consist of a number of computers connected to each other
Software (Called Protocol) uses this connection to allow communication between software
running on different machines

Protocols

A protocol is a set of rules for communicating (between machines)

Computers need stricter protocol than humans, because they are less flexible.
The internet uses a base protocol for machines to talk to each other
o Its called TCP/IP
Transfer (Transmission) control protocol / Internet protocol
TCP/IP is powerful but simple
Many different computers can communicate using this
Other protocols are built on top of it
o Electronic mails: SMTP
o Network news: NNTP
o World wide web: HTTP
o Transfer files between machines: FTP
o To log on to remote machines: TELNET

IP
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IP is a protocol internet uses for addresses

One piece of wire can carry data from one place to another but how can internet get
data from one network to another
A good example is postal service
When you send a letter from location A to another international Location B it does not
go directly from Airport to its destination, instead
It gets taken to the main post office
It gets sorted and taken somewhere else maybe local head office
Sorted again at head office and put on plane to international destination.
And the same process is repeated again there
In fact, it may go through many more sorting stations.
On internet similarly a data will go from Location A to B via different many computers
Some of these are called ROUTERS
A routers job is to accept data, decide where to send it and send it (like sorting office)
It knows other routers and nodes to which it can send data and sends accordingly
Like post office routers can send data through a number of other routers
This results in very robust system
If part of system goes down, data can reach its destination by another route.