A basic description of the Internet and Internet communications.

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The Internet and How it Works

You don’t really need to know what the Internet is to have a website but it helps if you have some understanding of it. This does not have to be detailed technical understanding, as long as you have a grasp of the concept that’s fine.

The Internet is basically an international network of computers and networks that are all connected together for the purpose of sharing information. It was first developed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the US government back in 1969.

At this time it was called Arpanet and its purpose was to allow computers used for research purposes at universities to talk to (or send messages) to those at other universities. Arpanet was decommissioned a few years ago.

The Internet's Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)

These messages were sent using protocols which were developed to make the messages bounce from one computer to another until they arrived at their intended destination. This meant that if some of the computers in the network were turned off or out of order then the message could use different routes to get to its destination.

The protocols that were used were the forerunners of those used today, i.e. TCP/IP or Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol.

What is a Protocol?

You probably would not know what was being said if someone spoke to you in Mandarin or Urdu but you would if they spoke English. This is because you both use the same language (or protocol).

Note: Protocols sound like quite complex communication processes and they are. Fortunately all you need to know is that they are a set of rules, or a language that is used in the exchange of data between computers. If both computers are capable of using the same protocol they can communicate with each other.

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