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    Internet Overview: What is the Internet?

  It was not that long ago-say 1990 that few people had a pc. Now the pc (personal computer) revolution is in full swing! The main reason is that the Internet became the killer application, or killer app, which is a program or technical advance that is so necessary and desirable that it gives value to a larger technology and creates this very technology.
    So what is the Internet?

  As the word itself suggests, the Internet is basically a network of networks. In other words, it is the 'inter-connection' of  millions of computers.
  Though many people think of the Internet as something mysterious, the entity is very similar to the telephone system, which we are all very familiar with. One telephone instrument can connect to another over long distances making use of many exchanges and switches. This facilitates communication, transfer of intelligence and exchange of ideas across the globe. The Internet can be considered as an enhancement of the same principle.
   Though I have compared the telephone system to the Internet, the similarity stops at the basic concept. As a mode of global communication, Internet offers endless possibilities with regard to the

kind of intelligence that can be transferred from one computer to another. It is evident by looking at various Web sites, that multimedia presentations abound in highly impressive ways.
It is up to everyone to take advantage of this technical marvel to enhance our knowledge and exchange views without any barriers.
 Internet Philosophy...
There has been considerable number of debates with regard to the usage of this wonderful communication medium called the Internet. They cover topics from "almost sensible" to utter stupidity!
Whether it is to with pornography, or e-mail spam, one has to use common sense and realize that it is entirely up to the individual traveler to filter out what he or she likes to see. When you have already accepted the ritual of throwing away junk mail that arrives at your mail box every day, how difficult can it be, to click-and-delete unwanted email?
Mere availability of material that one may consider decadent is not a grave problem in itself. Just like books, magazines, movies, and TV channels, the Internet also serves the cause of every interest and curiosity of a fertile mind, albeit an infertile one!  -Vasan Chakravarthy

  The Internet is much more than interconnected computers and, if you use the Internet, you can be less frustrated if you have some basic idea of the components and protocols (a set of rules about how to transmit data) of the Internet.
So how do all these millions of computers find each other and how can a search engine like Google find just one item among billions of items? It seems almost magical to the beginner but the magic is in the vision, dedication and hard work of many programmers, technicians and engineers.

  How do you find someone else's house if you've never been there before?-of course, by the address and every computer to get on the Internet has to be given an address. This is the basic protocol of the Internet TCP/IP (which stands for Transmission Control Protocol over Internet Protocol.) Basically the TCP part of this protocol (rule) makes sure that data is transmitted correctly and verifies all that data has arrived at the end of delivery. The IP part is like address part on a letter that allows one computer to find another computer even if it is around the world. Each computer has an IP address which is unique to each computer at

any given time on the Internet and is written as 4 groups of numbers separated by periods and there are no more than 3 numbers in each group. The four groups of numbers are called octets because in basic binary form-those 1s and 0s, they add up to 32. Some examples of IP addresses would be 66.94.234.3 or 192.168.15.1 But you don't have to know all of this, just know that your computer has to have an address to be on the Internet.

   So once the computers find each other, then what? Understanding TCP/IP is only the beginning. Of course, almost every user thinks of the Internet in terms of sending email and using the World Wide Web. Most people are just concerned with these two basic activities, but if you pull the curtain a bit on the inner workings of the Internet, then you can use the Internet much more effectively and creatively.

  Not all computers have the same function on the Internet. When you get your pc on the Internet whether by a dialup or broadband connection, you are usually connecting as a client. To get your email or a web page, you need to become "wedded" to a server. This is the "dance" of the Internet that keeps the wheels turning.      The servers "out there" on the Internet are like the "digital waiters" that bring you email or an interesting web page. These servers are dedicated, high-end computers set up for one or several functions like supplying email, web service, chat, file transfer, news groups or usenet, listservs or mailing lists, a database (organized collection of information), or telnet (to connect to a remote computer like you are a user on that computer) and more. The connected computers need to interact as servers and clients to get anything accomplished.

    The Internet has changed over time both with the hardware involved including how the user accesses the Internet, the programs used once one is on the Internet, and the basic ways people get their tasks done on the Internet. At this point in time, the World Wide Web has taken the precedence over past protocols that people use when they log on. For instance, many people use webmail rather than an email client. Multimedia like movies and digital music is accessed through the Web. FTP (file transfer protocol-that is, downloading files) is not as often done by FTP client but through a web page.

   When I first got on the Internet in early 90s, I had to telnet (log on to a remote computer) to a linux machine and I was very excited at the time to be able to gather information from lynx which was the text version of what is the graphic, interactive Web today. I was able to read and post to newsgroups-also just text and perhaps ascii art which is art produced through the characters on a keyboard. I could do email through a very good, intuitive program called Pine-which was also text only.

          Example of a Shell

 The shell was the only way in the past to access the Internet. You would telnet to a unix or linux machine with your username and password and type commands.

   Some of the early programs and protocols of the Internet in the past, you have disappeared or are not seen frequently like Archie (searched FTP sites), gophers (beginning search engines and indexing menus) like Veronica and Jughead.
  In 1993 when the graphical Web appeared accessed through the browser,a program used to find and display web pages, everything took off and the Internet became more accessible to everyone and much easier -fortunately for the average user today.

Getting Online
    A world of information and experiences are out there on the Internet, but how do you get online? The answers have changed over time from early nineties until now.
  Now, in 2007, there are many ways to get online from dialup to broadband which may be using a cable modem or a dsl modem or having a wireless connection. Historically, for a long time, the only way to get online was through a dialup connection. Next there were other technologies-some which didn't succeed for long like ISDN -but eventually more people logged on through a cable connection and a cable modem.
  Then the choices expanded to DSL. Finally, there is a wireless connection as you might use with a laptop with a wireless adapter. You can go to a hot spot or you might use a wireless router in your home to share the Internet.
    It might seem daunting at first to get online but it is much easier today then it used to be. Just a bit of reading and investigation of your options can get you "up to speed" fairly rapidly. The factors you need to consider are cost, how   fast you want to be surfing the Web, how much multimedia you want to be able to view-it's difficult to view many videos on YouTube, for instance, with a dialup, if you want your phone line open

(a dialup connection will give callers a constant busy signal which can be pretty annoying) and if you want to share your Internet connection among more than one computer-which means you will then need to purchase a router.