The Internet

The Internet is a global network of connected computers. This global network utilizes fancy equipment like routers, fiber optics, copper, and even satellites. It has its beginnings in the Cold War, for it started off as a way of maintaining communications in case of nuclear war.

The Department of Defense established ARPANET in 1969. ARPANET consisted of a four node network, with nodes at four western universities including UCLA, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. By 1976 ARPANET had grown to over 111 nodes. This was a robust network without a single point of failure. If one node went down, the network still functioned by rerouting communications around the fallen node.

In 1984 ARPANET was split into military (MILNET) and civilian sections (ARPANET). This is considered the birth of the Internet.

The Internet offers many services on its network. These services include email, FTP, NetNews, and of course the World Wide Web. We often think of the World Wide Web as the Internet, but that is incorrect. The World Wide Web is just a service that runs on the Internet.

It is the World Wide Web that provides us with all the text, pictures, sounds, and video through a Web browser, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari.

The first World Wide Web Software was created by Tim Berners-Lee in 1990. This is considered the birth of the WWW.

Here is a simplified explanation of how the World Wide Web works:

Consumers (you) sign up for Internet service through an ISP (Internet Service Provider). Consumers use their computers (clients) to connect to ISP servers via modem, DSL, Cable, or Satellite. SBC Yahoo, American Online, and NetZero are example of ISPs. The ISPs connect you to the Internet network, where your computer request Web pages from servers (the computers that have the Web pages you want).

On an individual basis, you sit down at your computer and type in an Internet address (URL: Uniform Resource Locator). A Web server out on the Internet (network) listens for client requests, such as yours, and readily provides the requested page (data), most often in the form of an HTML document. Your Web browser interprets the HTML and renders a beautiful Web page.