Internet

Internet
A collection of computers all over the world that send, receive, and store information. It’s merely a lot of computers communicating with each other. Access to the Internet is provided through a number of sources: universities, government installations, the military, large companies, and individuals through Internet service providers.

Internet Service Provider:

A commercial organization that provides dial-up access to the Internet, like a cable company for computer users who want to get on the Internet. Often called ISPs, an Internet Service Provider is already connected to the Internet. They provide us with an access code and phone number, which we use to get to the Internet. Additionally, they should offer email accounts.

World Wide Web:

The world wide web is an architectural framework for accessing linked documents spread out over thousands of machines all over the Internet.

Web server:

A computer or software program that runs on a computer and answers requests for Web pages on the World Wide Web. Web servers are usually part of an Internet service provider’s array of computers. Or a business may have a computer that works as a web server answering HTTP requests from the Internet and sending Web page information to other computers.

URL:

Uniform Resource Locator, a type of command that can fetch a variety of types of information from various corners of the Internet. Common URLs are

http - for web pages
ftp - for file transfer protocol sites
gopher - for gopher servers
mailto - for sending e-mail
news - for accessing newsgroups

Web Browser:

Web browser software designed to view documents written in HTML, which includes all pages on the World Wide Web. There are two popular Web browsers: one from Netscape and the other from Microsoft. Web browsers displays information from the Internet by using text, graphics, sounds, and all sorts of interesting distractions. The browsers can also display Gopher, FTP, and newsgroup information.

* Netscape Navigator
* Mosaic
* Java
* Micro

History of Internet:

In 1969, the American defense department wanted to connect all the computers in the Department of Defense (DOD) offices and military research contractors including a large number of universities doing military funded research. That network was called Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPHANET), was also called DARPANET, the D for defense. It started in a small way, connecting three computers in California with one in Utah, but quickly grew to span the whole of America. It was very successful and all the universities wanted to get connected to ARPHNET. At one stage the military officials wanted to preserve the unity of DOD, and so divided the network into two parts:

* ARPHANET
* MILNET (Military Network)
These two parts remained connected with a technical scheme called Internet Protocol.

The American National Science Foundation then established another network of computers in America. It permitted all the universities and research centers to hook on to their network National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET) and to contribute to super-computer research. During 1990, many computers started hooking up to NSFNET. During 1994, several commercial organizations introduced networks across to another node in another network. As a result of this we now have a network of so many different networks. This network of networks is called the Internet.

Internet Protocols:

Internet protocol is a technical switching scheme, which enables a node of one network to communicate with a node of another network. On the Internet if we want to contact a person on another network, we need a protocol. Some of protocols are

* Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)
* Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP)
* Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
* Transfer Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

Internet Applications:

Electronic Mail:

Electronic mail (or) email is used to send the message one place to another through the Internet.

Web site:

A collection of web pages closely linked to each other. A company’s presence on the World Wide Web. A web site is merely the entire collection of Web pages relating to a specific topic or owned by a business, group, or individual.

Web page:

A document on the World Wide Web. The term page has nothing to do with the length of the document; some pages are short, and some are very long.
Newsgroup :

A discussion area (group) on USENET. A forum where people can read or write their own news messages, and flames. Newsgroups have a certain hierarchical format that replaces spaces with periods.

USENET

Contraction of USER NETWORK, an Internet facility that offers a wide variety of newsgroups, bulletin boards, and public forums.