Understanding some of the fundamentals of what makes the Internet tick won’t necessarily keep you from cursing when you can’t get online, but it will give you a new appreciation of what’s involved when you do get on.
The best place to start is with an understanding of a server – no, not the guy in the white jacket who brings you dinner. A server is another PC (personal computer), albeit on steroids, that serves up data requested by other computers on a network. If your PC or Mac is hooked up to a network, your computer is a “client” of the server.
Schematically, the Internet looks like an Amway sponsoring chart; countless servers with millions of computers hooked up to each. The result is the mother of all “networks.” In some respects, the Internet is just like the network you log onto at work, (except at many places of business, networks are more like notworks. How many times have you heard, “I’m sorry the computers are down today”?)
Let’s say you have a sudden hankering to learn all about kumquats. You know there are servers somewhere out there that are harboring the information you seek. You simply log onto the Web, head for a search engine, type in kumquat and are presented with 4 kazillion sites about kumquats. You click on the first.
Because this capability is so seamless, you don’t stop to think, “How’d I get here?” But it’s a good question.
When you dial into your Internet Service Provider (ISP), your computer joins all of the networks comprising the Internet, but you’re there as a visitor. You’re not directly “hooked up” to the Internet. Your “gateway” to the Web is your ISP’s server, which is hooked up directly.
Computers accessing the Internet encompass a wide variety of operating systems (Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux,) and diverse central processing unit (CPU) chip sets (Motorola and Pentium, for example).
Because of that diversity, the Internet adheres to a special set of programming rules called “protocols.” Protocols take into account all of these complex variables, and allow computers to talk to one another in one, understandable way. It’s like a universal translator.
The protocols controlling how data move over the Internet are called TCP/IP. TCP, Transmission Control Protocol, contains the rules enabling the exchange of data.
When you arrive at your kumquat site, TCP breaks down the data you requested into neat packets, which it sends to your computer. IP, Internet Protocol, like a train or truck, is the data carrier, speeding the packets back and forth from server to computer.
When the kumquat data arrive at your computer, TCP swings into action again by reassembling the packets and checking for errors. The result is the Web sites you see in your browser window.
Now that you know all of this, if you get on “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire,” and the million-dollar question involves TCP/IP, you’ll be a winner.
Article – Copyright 2000 James H. Hyde. Syndicated by ParadigmTSA
