Neo•Paradigms
Q: What is the Internet?
A: A HUGE global network of computers.
What we have come to view as "the Internet" has derived from a system developed in the 1960's to deal with a proposed Cold War catastrophe. The US government sought a solution for being able to transfer vital communications in the event of attack. The result is a large network with the ability to send and receive files from one computer to another. The three main defining characteristics of the internet are
- interoperable
Interoperable means that the standards allow communication across networks. This does not limit the access of information to a proprietary site, location, machine or brand name. - packet switched
Connections are not FIXED from point to point for the duration of the transmission. A telephone call is circuit switched - which means a dedicated path is established to transmit your entire conversation. When data is sent packet switched over the internet - it transmits a small part of the data, verifies it is correct, then sends more information toward the destination. Packet switched networks do not require all of the information to be delivered through the same path. By not dedicating the path for the duration of the connection, this method allows more connections to be sending information across the same space or allows for sharing resources. - data network
A network that carries data information (digital - computer) instead of voice information (analog - telephone). There are many instances where these "definitions" of data and voice are starting to overlap. Computers connecting to regular phone lines are technically carrying data over a voice line and in some progressive parts of the country digital phone lines are starting to make appearances.
The Internet is a worldwide network of computer networks. It is comprised of thousands of separately administered networks of many sizes and types. Each of these networks is comprised of as many as tens of thousands of computers; the total number of individual users of the Internet is in the millions. This high level of connectivity fosters an unparalleled degree of communication, collaboration, resource sharing, and information access. In the United States, the National Science Foundation Network (NSFNet) comprises the Internet "backbone" (a very high speed network that connects key regions across the country). The NSFNet will likely evolve into the National Research and Education Network (NREN) as defined in the High-Performance Computing Act of 1991 (P.L. 102-194, signed into law by President Bush on December 9, 1991).
TCP/IP is a standard of over 200 protocols that define the language of the internet. Some of the most common elements of the internet include (but are not limited to):- e-mail Example: Send us some e-mail
E-mail is electronic mail. It is sent over the internet electronically instead of over the roads via the US Postal Service. It delivers a message almost instantaneously to anyone in the world. The messages go into electronic mailboxes for users to read at their convenience - ftp Example: shareware AOL
File Transfer Protocol (ftp) is a method of transferring files to or from another computer. Whenever you hear of someone talking about downloading or uploading they are talking about ftp. - www Example: Internet-SEO home page
The world Wide Web (WWW or W3 or Web) has become a world wide phenomena. Where other applications rely on your knowledge of Internet addressing, hierarchical directory structures, and the application's own variations of command elements, web applications let you navigate by clicking on words or pictures. These hot links are established through hypertext. Often confused with the internet - in reality, the WWW is only one of many parts of the internet. - gopher Example: gopher://gopher.tc.umn.edu
Gopher was the first internet application that used a menu driven approach to navigation. Gopher lacked the graphic and other media rich components of the WWW that we enjoy today. Today, many sites that contain large bodies of text are still available through this method. - usenet Example: k12 ed life news group
Newsgroups (currently over 50,000) started when a few individuals at a few campuses wanted to share information with postings that anyone could access and read. "Legend has it that way back then (about 10 years ago) you could read every message in every group over a (single) cup of coffee. Do be aware that if you start reading and participating to these groups, anyone in the world has access to messages that you post to a newsgroup. - telnet Example: list of Free-Nets
Telnet is a program that allow you to remotely connect to and use a computer somewhere else.
