Learn Basic internet

8/13/2019 Learn Basic internet

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A Basic Guide to the Internet

The Internet is a computer network made up ofthousands of networks worldwide. No one knowsexactly how many computers are connected to theInternet. It is certain, however, that these numberin the millions.

No one is in charge of the Internet. There areorganizations which develop technical aspects ofthis network and set standards for creatingapplications on it, but no governing body is incontrol. The Internet backbone, through whichInternet traffic flows, is owned by privatecompanies.

All computers on the Internet communicate withone another using the Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol suite, abbreviated toTCP/IP. Computers on the Internet use aclient/server architecture. This means that theremote server machine provides files and servicesto the user's local client machine. Software can


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be installed on a client computer to takeadvantage of the latest access technology.

An Internet user has access to a wide variety ofservices: electronic mail, file transfer, vastinformation resources, interest group membership,interactive collaboration, multimedia displays,real-time broadcasting, shopping opportunities,breaking news, and much more.The Internet consists primarily of a variety ofaccess protocols. Many of these protocols featureprograms that allow users to search for andretrieve material made available by the protocol.

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COMPONENTS OF THE INTERNET

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WORLD WIDE WEBThe World Wide Web (abbreviated as the Web orWWW) is a system of Internet servers thatsupports hypertext to access several Internetprotocols on a single interface. Almost everyprotocol type available on the Internet isaccessible on the Web. This includes e-mail, FTP,Telnet, and Usenet News. In addition to these, theWorld Wide Web has its own protocol: HyperTextTransfer Protocol, or HTTP. These protocolswill be explained later in this document.

The World Wide Web provides a single interfacefor accessing all these protocols. This creates aconvenient and user-friendly environment. It is nolonger necessary to be conversant in theseprotocols within separate, command-levelenvironments. The Web gathers together theseprotocols into a single system. Because of thisfeature, and because of the Web's ability to workwith multimedia and advanced programminglanguages, the Web is the fastest-growingcomponent of the Internet.


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The operation of the Web relies primarily onhypertext as its means of information retrieval.HyperText is a document containing words thatconnect to other documents. These words arecalled links and are selectable by the user. Asingle hypertext document can contain links tomany documents. In the context of the Web, wordsor graphics may serve as links to other documents,images, video, and sound. Links may or may notfollow a logical path, as each connection isprogrammed by the creator of the sourcedocument. Overall, the Web contains a complexvirtual web of connections among a vast number ofdocuments, graphics, videos, and sounds.

Producing hypertext for the Web is accomplishedby creating documents with a language calledHyperText Markup Language, or HTML. WithHTML, tags are placed within the text toaccomplish document formatting, visual featuressuch as font size, italics and bold, and thecreation of hypertext links. Graphics andmultimedia may also be incorporated into an HTMLdocument. HTML is an evolving language, with new


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tags being added as each upgrade of the languageis developed and released. The World Wide WebConsortium (W3C), led by Web founder TimBerners-Lee, coordinates the efforts ofstandardizing HTML. The W3C now calls thelanguage XHTML and considers it to be anapplication of the XML language standard.

The World Wide Web consists of files, calledpages or home pages, containing links to documentsand resources throughout the Internet.

The Web provides a vast array of experiencesincluding multimedia presentations, real-timecollaboration, interactive pages, radio andtelevision broadcasts, and the automatic push ofinformation to a client computer. Programminglanguages such as Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic,Cold Fusion and XML are extending thecapabilities of the Web. A growing amount ofinformation on the Web is served dynamically fromcontent stored in databases. The Web is thereforenot a fixed entity, but one that is in a constantstate of development and flux.


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For more complete information about the WorldWide Web, see Understanding The World WideWeb.

E-MAILElectronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer userslocally and worldwide to exchange messages. Eachuser of e-mail has a mailbox address to whichmessages are sent. Messages sent through e-mailcan arrive within a matter of seconds.

A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to sendelectronic files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as binary files, may be attachedto e-mail messages. These files are referred to asMIME attachments.MIME stands for MultimediaInternet Mail Extension, and was developed tohelp e-mail software handle a variety of filetypes. For example, a document created inMicrosoft Word can be attached to an e-mailmessage and retrieved by the recipient with theappropriate e-mail program. Many e-mail programs,including Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and


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Microsoft Outlook, offer the ability to read fileswritten in HTML, which is itself a MIME type.

TELNETTelnet is a program that allows you to log intocomputers on the Internet and use onlinedatabases, library catalogs, chat services, andmore. There are no graphics in Telnet sessions,just text. To Telnet to a computer, you mustknow its address. This can consist of words(locis.loc.gov) or numbers (140.147.254.3). Someservices require you to connect to a specific porton the remote computer. In this case, type theport number after the Internet address. Example:telnet nri.reston.va.us 185.

Telnet is available on the World Wide Web.Probably the most common Web-based resourcesavailable through Telnet have been librarycatalogs, though most catalogs have sincemigrated to the Web. A link to a Telnet resourcemay look like any other link, but it will launch aTelnet session to make the connection. A Telnetprogram must be installed on your local computer


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and configured to your Web browser in order towork.

With the increasing popularity of the Web, Telnethas become less frequently used as a means ofaccess to information on the Internet.

FTPFTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This isboth a program and the method used to transferfiles between computers. Anonymous FTP is anoption that allows users to transfer files fromthousands of host computers on the Internet totheir personal computer account. FTP sitescontain books, articles, software, games, images,sounds, multimedia, course work, data sets, andmore.

If your computer is directly connected to theInternet via an Ethernet cable, you can use one ofseveral PC software programs, such as WS_FTPfor Windows, to conduct a file transfer.


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FTP transfers can be performed on the WorldWide Web without the need for special software.In this case, the Web browser will suffice.Whenever you download software from a Web siteto your local machine, you are using FTP. You canalso retrieve FTP files via search engines such asFtp Find, located at /http://www.ftpfind.com/.This option is easiest because you do not need toknow FTP program commands.

E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPSOne of the benefits of the Internet is theopportunity it offers to people worldwide tocommunicate via e-mail. The Internet is home to alarge community of individuals who carry outactive discussions organized around topic-orientedforums distributed by e-mail. These areadministered by software programs. Probably themost common program is the listserv.

A great variety of topics are covered by listservs, many of them academic in nature. When yousubscribe to a listserv, messages from othersubscribers are automatically sent to your


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users must connect to these computers to read ordownload the messages posted to these groups.This is distinct from e-mail distribution, in whichmessages arrive in the electronic mailboxes ofeach list member.

Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchangesmessages, or articles, from Usenet discussionforums, called newsgroups. Usenet administratorscontrol their own sites, and decide which (if any)newsgroups to sponsor and which remotenewsgroups to allow into the system.

There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups inexistence. While many are academic in nature,numerous newsgroups are organized aroundrecreational topics. Much serious computer-related work takes place in Usenet discussions. Asmall number of e-mail discussion groups also existas Usenet newsgroups.

The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety ofnewsreader software programs. For example, theNetscape suite comes with a newsreader program


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called Messenger. Newsreaders are also availableas standalone products.

FAQ, RFC, FYIFAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. Theseare periodic postings to Usenet newsgroups thatcontain a wealth of information related to thetopic of the newsgroup. Many FAQs are quiteextensive. FAQs are available by subscribing toindividual Usenet newsgroups. A Web-basedcollection of FAQ resources has been collected byThe Internet FAQ Consortium and is availableat /http://www.faqs.org/.

RFC stands for Request for Comments. These aredocuments created by and distributed to theInternet community to help define the nuts andbolts of the Internet. They contain both technicalspecifications and general information.

FYI stands for Your Information. These notes area subset of RFCs and contain information ofinterest to new Internet users.


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Links to indexes of all three of these informationresources are available on the University LibrariesWeb site at/http://library.albany.edu/reference/faqs.html.

CHAT & INSTANT MESSENGINGChat programs allow users on the Internet tocommunicate with each other by typing in realtime. They are sometimes included as a feature ofa Web site, where users can log into the chatroom to exchange comments and information aboutthe topics addressed on the site. Chat may takeother, more wide-ranging forms. For example,America Online is well known for sponsoring anumber of topical chat rooms.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a service throughwhich participants can communicate to each otheron hundreds of channels. These channels areusually based on specific topics. While many topicsare frivolous, substantive conversations are alsotaking place. To access IRC, you must use an IRCsoftware program.


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A variation of chat is the phenomenon of instantmessaging. With instant messaging, a user on theWeb can contact another user currently logged inand type a conversation. Most famous is AmericaOn line s Instant Messenger. ICQ, MSN and Yahooare other commonly-used chat programs.

Other types of real-time communication areaddressed in the tutorial Understanding theWorld Wide Web.

MUD/MUSH/MOO/MUCK/DUM/MUSEMUD stands for Multi User Dimension. MUDs, andtheir variations listed above, are multi-uservirtual reality games based on simulated worlds.Traditionally text based, graphical MUDs nowexist. There are MUDs of all kinds on theInternet, and many can be joined free of charge.For more information, read one of the FAQsdevoted to MUDs available at the FAQ site at

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