The Internet

The internet?is a collection of networks around the world that share resources.

The Bones of the Internet

The TCP/IP protocol suite includes several protocols. Every node in the network has an address to be able to exchange data between themselves. Using addresses is the way to identify each node within a network. Four levels of addresses are used on the internet:?physical addresses?(MAC addresses),?IP addresses,?port addresses, and specific addresses. Each one uses TCP/IP protocols.

A device, such as a computer, may use one or more communication technologies to connect to the internet. Examples of those technologies are WiFi and Ethernet.

The physical address is a unique identifier used as a link within a local network. It cannot be used for communication beyond the local network.

An IP address provides an identifier for a?host?connected to the internet. No two hosts on the internet can share the same IP address.

The Birth of the Internet

The internet is the successor of?ARPANET, which was developed as an experimental network by the U.S. Defense Department through its advanced research project agency (ARPA) at the end of the 1960s. The initial project included a wide area network called ARPANET as well as radio and satellite networks.

By the late 1960s, there was very little experience with computer networks and how to build them. Thus, ARPA funded research to investigate how to interconnect computers on a larger scale. After 1969, ARPANET grew rapidly as many universities and research institutes joined the project. The ARPA project also resulted in many new ideas about how computers communicate over multiple networks. One of the results was the?TCP/IP?protocol suite, thanks to informal discussions among researchers.

In 1983, TCP/IP becomes the only official protocol on the ARPANET. Since TCP/IP was designed for supporting communication over several networks, people began viewing the ARPANET as a collection of networks. In the mid-1980s it was renamed “the internet”. Although the internet was originally used by researchers, government, and academics, today it is used by millions of users.

Read more about Information Technology, Data Science, and Project Management on my blog

Vocabulary

Internet

The internet is a global online network formed by a collection of networks connected by devices, such as routers or gateways, which use the TCP/IP protocol suite.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)

TPC is a communication protocol that defines rules to establish and manage a transport connection through which applications can exchange data.

IP (Internet Protocol)

IP is a communication protocol that provides connectionless transmission of chunks of data (packets) across a network. It is one of the main protocols of the TCP/IP protocol suite.

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network)

ARPANET was an experimental network developed by DARPA at the end of the 1960s to allow the researchers to test their ideas about how computers could communicate over multiple networks.

IP address

An IP address is a numerical identifier assigned to each host connected to a computer network that uses the internet protocol.

Physical address

A physical address is an identifier assigned to the network interface card of a device for communication between devices within a network segment. Also known as MAC address.

Port address

A port address is a number (integer) that identifies a process associated with an application program that exchanges data on a TCP/IP network.

Host

A host is a node or station on a computer network. A host is a generic term that refers to a node in a network that can exchange data, such as a server or a router.