Bandwidth different from broadband

ADSL Modem

Bandwidth and broadband are terms that are commonly associated with the internet. Bandwidth refers to the amount of data that can be carried from one point to another in a given time period-usually a second, or bps. Broadband is the name given to any fast, permanent internet connection. It can be delivered by cable, satellite, mobile, fiber optics and ADSL, which is technology for high- speed internet access.

When the internet revolution began, users accessed the net via dial-up and a ‘modem’ –a piece of hardware that converts signals from your computer, so they can travel down a telephone line, and vice-versa. This could be painfully slow and it tied up your phone line. A broadband connection makes internet more enjoyable as it is so much faster. This is because a broadband connection can download more chunks of data-‘bits’ simultaneously.

Connect to the internet 

        If you want to log on to the Internet, you need a computer that     has internet software. You will also need a modem. The data is received by a computer on the net, and routed to its destination. Finally, the destination computer receives, and process the data that has been sent.

WWW Birth

Tim Berners-Lee

The World Wide Web is the brainchild of Tim Berners-Lee, a scientist. It was originally developed in 1989 to allow scientists working in different universities all over the world to share information. The basic idea was to merge the technologies of personal computers, networks, and the hypertext into a powerful, yet easy to use global communication system.

The internet different from the web

The internet is a massive network of networks that connects millions of computers together globally. In this network, any computer can communicate with any other computer, as long as they are both connected to the internet.

The web, on the other hand, is like a bunch of ‘pages’ of information connected to each other around the globe. What makes web pages interesting is that they contain hyperlinks. Each links points to another web pages. Another characteristic of the web is that you can search it. These invisible connections between pages are like the threads of a spider’s web, hence the name World Wide Web.

Who controls the internet?

An Internet cafe
 in the ship 'Golden princess'

The answer to this is no one! The internet belongs to, and no single government or organization controls it. Rather, it is made up of many individuals that are owned by different individuals and organizations. There are, however, several major players who have a key role in ensuring that the internet functions smoothly. There is ICANN, which co- ordinates domain names, while the internet society acts as a clearing house for technical standards, and the World Wide Web consortium plots the web’s feature. Software are controlled by corporations such as Microsoft.

UPLOAD AND DOWNLOAD

The terms upload and download refer to the direction in which information is going on the internet. Files are considered to be uploaded when they are transferred from a computer or other electronic device, to a central server. Downloading takes place when the files are transferred from a server to a smaller unit, such as a computer, smartphone, or any other device. To put it very simply, ‘download’ and  ‘upload’ imply a scenario in which data is downloaded from the ‘big’ server into the user’s ‘little’ computer, while uploading sends data from the little computer to the big computer.

Vint cerf 

Vint Cerf called the Father of the internet

Vint cerf is often referred to as ‘The father of Internet’. He is an American computer scientist who began his work at the United state Department of Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency. He has played a key role in the development of the Internet.

Along with Robert Kahn, he created a technology thet changed the way people all over the world communicated, and by doing so, changed their lifestyles too. He has been the pioneer of the digital revolution. May be the term ‘to surf the internet’ comes from the ‘Cerf’ in his name?

Netiquette

When you talk about etiquette, you are referring to set of rules that govern socially accepted behavior. Similarly the term ‘netiquette’ describes the rules for online behavior, especially in news groups and chat rooms. For example, according to netiquette, if you type in capitals when sending a message to someone, it is like shouting at that person!

HTTP

Marc Andreessen
Inventor of the
Netscape web browser

‘http’ stands for hyper text transfer protocol. It is  a set of rules governing the transfer of information on the world wide web. This information can be in the from of text, graphic images, sound, video, and other multimedia files. http defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what action web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. Any web server machine contains, in addition to the web pages files it can serve, a program that is designed to wait for http requests, and handle them when they arrive. For example, a web browser initiates a request to a server, and the server sends a response has been completed, either the browser or the server may terminate the connection, or the browser can send another request. To put it a nutshell, http is a protocol or set of rules that acts as the go-between for internet users.

Internet society

The internet society was founded in 1992, and has offices in Washington and Geneva, its purpose is to provide information and education about the internet, and  to maintain certain standards on the internet.