Internet - its introduction, uses and brief discussion

Internet – introduction and history and description

 

 

 

 

The internet, is a worldwide system o0f computer networks – a network of networks in which users at any one computer in the world can get information from any other computer (if they give permission) or sometimes talk directly to the users at other computers. It was conceived by the Advance Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the United States government in 1969 and was first known as Arpanet.

The original aim of creating this network was to allow users of a research computer at one university “talk to” the research computers at the other universities.

In Arpanet, messages could be routed in more than one directions, the network could continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or any other disaster. Today, the Internet is a public cooperative and self sustaining facility accessible to millions of people worldwide. Physically, the Internet uses apportion of total resources of currently existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol). Two recent adaptations of Internet technology is the intranet and the extranet, which also make use of the TCP/IP protocols.

People communicate over the internet in a number of ways including Internet Relay Chat (IRC), instant messaging, video chat or social media, e-mails and internet telephony.

 

World Wide Web

The most widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web or WWW in short. Its outstanding feature is hypertext, a method of instant cross – referencing. You must have noticed  while searching on the websites that some text are underlined, certain words or phrases appear in different colors. When you select or ‘click’ on one of these words or phrases, you will be transferred to the site or page that is relevant to this clicked word or text. Sometimes, there are symbols, images, logos, buttons or figures that are ‘clickable’. When you move over a spot on a website and the pointer changes into a hand symbol, this shows that you can click and be transferred to another website.

Using the web, you would be able to access billions of pages of information and data that is available online. Web browsing is done using a web-browser. The most popular web browsers are Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. Each browser has unique setting and security features. Once installed, they could be updated with available latest versions.

 

Internet of Things (IoT)

You have heard a term, Internet of Things (IoT) which is a fast developing environment in which any object or entity can be provided with a unique identifier and the ability to transfer data automatically over the Internet.