Chapter 6.

KHCI course: Knowledge, Human Communication and Internet

The Internet: History, Components, and Services Provided by Internet

http://www.free-computer-tips.info/internet-tips/the-breif-internet-history.html

The Internet is the network of networks around the world. It is made up of thousands of smaller, national,
regional, governmental, academic and commercial networks. It is a global network. Information can be
communicated from one city (or country) to another through Internet. You can access information all over
the work. More than two billion people around the world use the Internet daily for different purposes. For
example, to communicate with other people around the world, access information and latest news around
the world etc. The computers are the main components through which information can be electronically
sent and received from one location to another. For this purpose, a special device called modem is also
used with computer and then computer is attached with the telephone line. The modem sends and receives
the information over telephone lines. You must have an Internet connection of any local ISP (Internet
Service Provider) to share the information on Internet. The telephone lines, fiber-optic cables, satellite
communications are the main media of communications that are used to connect to the Internet.
Today Internet is a global web of nearly one million computer networks. Internet host computers are
connected to the Internet round the clock.

Brief History of Internet

The Internet was started in 1969 by the defense department of USA. Later, it was handed over to the
Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). The DARPA launched the first Internet
program. The DARPA established a network of 4 computers and named as ARPANet. The protocols
(Software) that define the rules to exchange information between computers were created by DARPA.
The idea of computer networking soon became popular. Several universities & research organizations
developed their own computer networks. They joined their networks to ARPANet. The ARPANet
became the network of networks. This network of computer networks was named as Internet.
In 1986 the National Science Foundation (NSF), another federal agency of USA, established a network
and named as NSFNet. It was established for academic purpose and was accessible to everyone. Later, it
was expanded all over the country and large number of universities and research centers were connected
to this network. The academic networks were established and all these were interconnected together to
share the information. The way of connecting one network to another is termed as internetworking and
“Internet” is also derived from internetworking. The NSF provided the connections for academic research
centers only. After this many telecommunication companies established their own network backbones by
using the same networking protocol as NSFNet used and also provided connections to private users. In
1995, NSF terminated its network on the Internet. Today, the Internet consists of many local, regional,
national and international networks.

Network Backbone
The inner structure of the Internet works much like a transportation system. The main communication
lines carry the heaviest amount of traffic on the Internet. These communication lines are referred to as
Internet backbone. It can also be defined as:
The central structure or element of the network, which connects other elements of the network and
handles the major traffic, is called the backbone. The backbone is a high-speed element. It is the major
communication link that ties Internet servers across wide geographical areas.

How the Internet works?

It must be noted that there is no particular organization that controls the Internet. Different networks of
private companies, government agencies, research organizations, universities etc. are interconnected
together. You can say that the Internet is a huge collection of millions of computers, all linked together on
a computer network. The network allows all of the computers to communicate with one another. A home
computer may be linked to the Internet using a phone-line modem, DSL or cable modem that
communicates to an Internet Service Provider (ISP). A computer in a business or university will usually
have a network interface card (NIC) that directly connects it to a Local Area Network (LAN) inside the
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business. The business can then connect its LAN to an ISP using a high-speed phone line such as Ti Line.
A Ti Line can handle approximately 1.5 million bits per second, while a normal phone line using a
modem can typically handle 30,000 to 50,000 bits per second.

What is ISP?
ISP: It is a company that provides the Internet connections to the users. There are many ISP companies in
each big city of each country of the world. You have to get an Internet connection from any ISP company
of your local city to connect to the Internet.
ISPs then connect to larger ISPs, and the largest ISPs maintain fiber-optic “backbones’ for an entire
region. Backbones around the world are connected through fiber-optic lines, under Sea cables or satellite
links. In this way, every computer on the Internet is connected to every -other computer on the Internet.
The figure is shown below that shows how an Internet works.

1Internet Structure
Connection to the Internet
Normally, dial-up access is used to connect to the Internet at home or office. Following things are
required to establish connection to Internet:
• Computer – Any computer can be used for connection to Internet.
• Modem – Modem is an electronic device that is used to transfer data over Internet. It links the
computer with the Internet using telephone line.
• Dialup Software – Dialup software is used to establish a connection between a personal computer
and a server of an ISP.
• ISP Connection – ISP stands for Internet Service Provider. I t provides the link between the
computer and the Internet. A person has to get an account of an ISP for establishing a connection
to Internet.
• Web Browser – Finally, an Internet browser is required. Browser is software that is used to view
web pages. Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape Communicator are popular web browsers.

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More high-speed connections are also available to connect to the Internet such as DSL, ISDN and cable
television Internet services. DSL stands for digital subscriber line and ISDN stands for Integrated
Services Digital Network. These technologies provide high-speed connections through cable television
network.
These technologies are always connected to the Internet when the computer is running. The users do not
have to dial a connection to connect to the Internet, which is necessary in case of dial-up access.
Addressing Scheme
Internet addresses are used to access different computers on the Internet. Each computer on the Internet
has unique address. This address is sued to establish a connection with that computer. There are two types
of addressing schemes on the Internet.
IP Addressing
IP address is a unique number that refers to a computer connected to the Internet. IP stands for Internet
Protocol. This address is a 32-bit number. It consists of four numbers separated by period. Each number is
between 0 and 255. These numbers are known as octets.
An example of IP address is 127.80.144.30. Normally, first number indicates a network and that last
number indicates a specific computer.
A server on the Internet has a static IP address. It does not change very often. When a computer connects
to the Internet, It also gets in IP address by the ISP. This IP address is used only during the session and is
not static.
DNS Addressing
IP address is difficult to remember for the users. An alternative to IP address is known as domain name. a
domain name consists of text instead of number. It is easier to remember a domain name than IP address.
A domain name is associated with one or more IP addresses.
Each domain name has a top-level domain that indicates the type of organization associated with domain
name. The domain names outside United States also include the country code. The country code of
Pakistan is pk e.g. www.hec.gov.pk
Internet Corporation for Assigned Name and Numbers (ICANN) is a group that assigns and controls
the top-level domains.
A method used to store domain names and corresponding IP addresses is called domain name system
(DNS). When the user specifies a domain name, DNS server converts it into its corresponding IP address.
The top-level domains are as follows:

Domain Type
com Commercial organizations
edu Educational institutions
gov Government departments
mil Military organizations
net Network providers
org Non-profit organizations
museum Accredited museums
biz Business organizations
info Organizations or individuals providing general information
name Individuals of families
pro Professional like doctors, engineers
aero Aviation community members
coop Cooperative societies and unions

Services Provided by Internet

Internet plays very important role in our society. It provides a lot of latest informative information about
business, education etc. It becomes the main medium for advertisement, communication between users
etc. The main services provided by Internet are:
1. World Wide Web (WWW)

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2. Newsgroup
3. Chatting
4. FTP
5. E-Commerce
6. Telnet
7. Gopher
8. E-mail (Electronic mail)

1. World Wide Web

The World Wide Web is simply referred to as Web. It is the latest addition to the Internet to exchange
information. The W b is vast network of HTTP servers (Web servers ) that store documents called Web
pages and these are accessible on the Internet. It is abbreviated as www or 3w. It is the easiest way to
search and to get information on the Internet.
1. World Wide Web
The World Wide Web is simply referred to as Web. It is the latest addition to the Internet to exchange
information. The W b is vast network of HTTP servers (Web servers ) that store documents called Web
pages and these are accessible on the Internet. It is abbreviated as www or 3w. It is the easiest way to
search and to get information on the Internet.
2. Newsgroups
The Newsgroups are the discussion forums that provide the services to Exchange messages on the Internet
about a particular subject. This facility is provided on the Internet on special servers known as News
servers. Different newsgroups are available for different purposes. For example, a newsgroup provides the
services to exchange information about business and another provides the services about current affairs
etc. You can become the member of any newsgroup on Internet for reading and posting messages on the
newsgroup. Usually the news client program “Microsoft Internet News” is used to read & write articles in
newsgroups.
3. FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is a way to transfer files to others through Internet, The files are
stored on a special type of server called the FTP server. The browsers can be used to transfer files from
FTP server to the client computer but it is a slow process to transfer files. A lot of FTP client programs of
different Software Companies are available through which files can be downloaded from FTP server into
your local computer very easily & quickly. Similarly, the files from your computer can be uploaded to the
FTP server. These special programs are WS_FTP and Cute FTP.
4. Chatting
Internet also provides the facility to Internet user to talk with people online all over the world. Different
programs like MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, AOL online etc. are available for chatting on the
Internet. You can add names of your friends or other people to these programs. These programs notify you
when one or more people are online and then allow you to exchange messages or files with them or join a
private chat room. The chat room allows the users to participate in a chat on the Internet. A chat room is a
area on the web where you talk with people online. You send messages by typing with keyboard to the
online people and receive messages from other end instantly. Some chat rooms support voice chats and
video chats where you talk with people as well as see them.
5. E-Commerce
E-Commerce or Electronic Commerce is very important service provided by Internet through which
financial transactions are carried out over the Internet. It is the modem way to carry out business on
international basis. When business is conducted with the help of computer networks, this activity is
usually termed as e-commerce or e-trade. Through e-commerce, goods can be purchased and sold from
anywhere in the world. Credit cards are used for payments. It is estimated that the size of e-commerce is
growing at a rate of 10% to 15% per month in the world.
The e-commerce can only be conducted on the computer network. Therefore, computer network has
become the need of every nation including Pakistan. The examples of E-commerce are; online shopping,
online advertising, online banking etc.

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6. Telnet
Telnet is an Internet service (or tool) that is used to login and run commands or programs on a remote
server on the Internet. Through this service, you can also access information on the Internet. You run the
telnet client application on your computer. The telnet provides you a prompt on your screen and you can
access the host computer by giving commands through this prompt. You will feel that you are sitting in
front on the host computer and operating it. When you send commands to the host through this service,
information are accessed from host and displayed on your own computer screen.
When telnet client program is run on your local computer, you have to give your account name (user
name) and password to start the operating session. The expert users mostly use this service. In some
remote servers, this service is not allowed.
7. Gopher
Gopher is an Internet service that organizes resources into multilevel menus to make finding information
easier on the Internet. Before Gopher, it was difficult to find information on the Internet.
8. E-mail
E-mail stands for electronic mail. It is the most popular service or facility provided by the Internet through
which we can electronically send and receive messages anywhere in the world. E-mail is a fast and
efficient method of communication. It is almost free of cost. The e-mail reaches to the destination in a few
seconds. You can also send documents, pictures, audio and video files via e-mail by attaching .the file
with email. It is also possible to send or receive e-mail messages through a mobile phone.

What is Search Engine?

http://www.free-computer-tips.info/internet-tips/what-is-search-engine.html

Search engines are the special websites that provide facility to Internet users to search information on the
Internet. A lot of information is available on the Internet in different websites. There are billions of
websites on the Internet. The Internet users only browse the important website addresses. The other
website addresses can be searched through search engines. The search engines keep the record of website
addresses along with important words for description of each web page.

For example, if you want to get information about the “History of Internet”, give these words to any
search engine. The search engine will search the given information and will provide a list of links of
websites along with brief description about each website. Click one of the links of websites after reading
the description.

The commonly used search engines and their URL addresses are:

GOOGLE = http://www.google.com
YAHOO = http://www.yahoo.com
ALTA VISTA = http://www.altavista.com
ASK = http://www.ask.com
EXCITE = http://www.excite.com
INFOSEEK = http://www.infoseek.com
LYCOS = http://www.lycos.com

It must be noted that you can create your own website and register your page with any search engine (as
mentioned above). Your page can be searched by any Internet user through search engine.

Searching Information using Search Engine

To search information on the Internet, follow these steps.
• Open any search engine.
• Type the information to search in the “Search” or “Find” text box of search engine page.
• Click the Search or Find or Seek button of search engine page.

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The search engine sends the typed information to its database. After a few seconds result is displayed in
the browser window. There may be about 100 or more websites that match your given topic or query.
Click the hyperlink of the website you want.

Google Search
The following points must be noted to search the information on the Internet.
• Type all words in lowercase.
• Use + sign between words if you want to search all words. For example, to search history of
computer, type as:
• history + computer
• To search the exact match, write the words in double quotation marks.
• For example to search the map of USA, type as:
• “USA map”

Google Search Tips

http://www.free-computer-tips.info/internet-tips/google-search-tips.html

Google Phrase Search

Google provides phrase search using quots.
Example:
“Cricket Schedule”
“GET HTML” codes in php

Google Book Search

Google helping to get the world’s information online by bringing online books.
Examples:
Books about Health
Books about Water

Google Cached Links

Google takes a snapshot of each web page at any website. It shows that what Google has in its cache or
index.
Example:
cache:http://www.yahoo.com
cache:http://www.free-computer-tips.info

Google as Calculator
Google is complete calculator and can resolve math equations.
Example:
5+5*10.5
7^2 (7 raise power 2)
sqrt(25) (Square root of 25)
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1 mile = ? yards
1 yard = ? cm
1 kg = ? pound
80 F = ? C

Google Currency Conversion

Google can convert any currency of the world according to fresh market.
Examples:
1 USD = ? PKR
1 Pound = ? USD
1 USD = ? Yen

Google Definitions
Google can define any word.
Examples:
define:book
define:internet
define:human

Google Weather
Google provides world weather. You can search weather of your location.
Examples:
Weather Lahore, Pakistan
Weather Toronto, CA

Google Stock Exchange

Google displays stock exchange statistics for any company. (Note you must type the ticker symbols, not
the company name.)
Examples:
stock:MSFT
stock:INTC

Google Question Answer

Google answers straight forward questions.
Examples:
Population of Pakistan
Capital of Japan
Prime Minister of Canada

Google started another search about Blogger or BlogSpot. http://blogsearch.google.com/

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 GLOSSARY: INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB TERMS
http://go.hrw.com/resources/go_nm/research/RESGLOSS.PDF

browser or Web broswer A client software program that enables you to search for and view Web
pages. Yahoo Nav-igator and Microsoft Internet Explorer are two examples.

client A computer or computer software program used to retrieve files or information from a server
(such as an Internet host) over a network.

country code Two-letter abbreviations at the end of some hostnames that identify the countries in which
a server is located. For example, the hostname for Yahoo’s server in Japan, www.yahoo.co.jp, ends with
jp, the country code for Japan.

cyberspace The electronic environment of computers and networks through which people communicate
and share digital information—in contrast to the “real” world of face-to-face, physical, non-electronic
interaction.

directory1 Parts of a path, separated by slashes, that precede a filename. For example, Yahoo’s Web
site contains a page titled “Yahoo! Information.” Its URL, <http://www.yahoo.com/docs/info
/index.html>, shows that the page (whose filename is index.html) is stored in the directory info, which is
stored in the direc- tory docs, which is stored in the main (unnamed) directory of the server
www.yahoo.com.

directory2 Name for a Web site, such as Yahoo <http://www.yahoo.com>, that indexes individual Web
pages using multi-level browsable categories or “subject trees” based on the information the pages
contain. The highest level of Yahoo, for example, contains very broad category headings such as Arts,
News, and Entertainment. The Arts category contains subcategories such as Architecture, Humanities,
and Performing Arts. The categories become progressively more specific until they reach a level such as
Arts: Humanities: Literature: Genres: Poetry: Poets, which contains a hypertext list of Web pages about
specific poets across the ages.

domains Parts of a hostname that identify the levels of Internet hierarchy to which a host belongs. For
example, lcweb.loc.gov is the hostname for a computer labeled lcweb that is in the loc (Library of Con-
gress) domain, which is in the top-level domain gov, because the Library of Congress is a part of the
federal government. Other top-level domains include com, edu, mil, org, and net. Country codes are
sometimes used in place of top-level domains.

DNS Domain Name System. System that translates hostnames, such as home.yahoo.com, into
corresponding numerical addresses that computers can understand.

file Document, image, sound, program, or other item stored within a directory1 on a computer.

filename Name assigned to a file stored on a computer. Files stored on the same server may have the
same name as long as they do not have the same path. Yahoo’s home page
<http://www.yahoo.com/index.html> and its “Yahoo information” page
<http://www.yahoo.com/docs/info/index.html> have the same filename (index.html), but different paths

filename extension Abbreviation at the end of the filename that indicates what type of file it is.
Extensions used on the Internet include .html or .htm for Web pages and .gif and .jpg for graphic files.

form Section of a Web page where you can type in information to send to a server. For example, every
Web search engine provides a form that has at least one field or window where you can type in keywords,
and at least one “button” (often labeled Search) that tells your Web browser to send the keywords to the
search engine’s server. After the server processes your request, it returns the resulting information to you.
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FTP File Transfer Protocol. The protocol most often used to transfer large files, such as electronic
books, over the Internet.

gopher Menu-based information retrieval protocol that predates the World Wide Web. Although gopher
servers are still in use, most people will find it easier to use Web search engine sites to look for
information on the Internet.

home page Commonly, the first Web page you will see when accessing a serve or Web site. Home
pages usually serve as gateways or starting points from which you may follow hyperlinks to other related
Web pages.

host Internet server having a unique numerical address and, usually, a host-name. With the right client
software, such as a Web browser, you can connect to a host and retrieve files or information from it.

hostname Name of an Internet server, found in a URL just after the protocol code and before the
path. In the URL <http://www.yahoo.com/docs/info/index.html>, the hostname is www.yahoo.com and
the path is /docs/info.

HTML Hypertext Markup Language. Coding system used to create Web pages. Web pages are actually
plain text files marked up with HTML codes that tell a browser how the text, images, links, and other
parts of the page should be styled and arranged.

HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol. Main protocol used on the World Wide Web.URLs that begin with
http:// are usually Web pages. Web browsers also recognize other protocols, such as FTP and gopher.

hypertext or hyperlink Coded text or graphics within a Web page, usually in a contrasting color and
often underlined, that link with or point to content elsewhere on the Web. Following a hyperlink by
clicking on it with a mouse will tell a browser to display the item to which it links. Hypertext usually
refers only to text links, while hyperlink may refer to either text links or graphical links. Non-text links
are sometimes called hypermedia.

path Portion of a URL that immediately follows the hostname. In the URL for the home page of the
State Department’s “Background Notes” on foreign countries
<http://www.state.gov/www/background_notes/index.html>, the complete path for the file index.html
is /www/background_notes/. Paths tell computers to look for files within certain directories1; in this
case, the background_notes subdirectory of the www directory of the server www.state.gov.

protocol Established set of rules for transferring signals and information among computers, printers,
modems, and other machines. Internet protocols include FTP, HTTP, gopher, and telnet.

search engine Tool at certain Web sites (such as Google, AltaVista, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, Inktomi,
Lycos, WebCrawler) that enables you to type in keywords and search for Internet resources that contain
them.

server Computer or computer software program that delivers files and information requested by client
programs over a network. For example, a Web server can deliver Web pages to a personal computer that
is running a browser program.

telnet Protocol that allows you to log onto a remote computer. Unlike the Web, telnet is capable of
displaying plain text only, but no hyperlinks or multimedia.

URL Uniform Resource Locator. Complete address for a file that can be accessed over the Internet. A
URL starts with a code describing the protocol needed to retrieve the file (http:// for Web pages, ftp:// for
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FTP files, and so on), continues with the hostname, then the path, then the filename. For example, the
URL for the “Net Search” page maintained by Yahoo is <http://home .yahoo.com/home/internet-
search.html>.

Usenet Collection of online discussion groups or bulletin boards, called news-groups, that can be
accessed over the Internet.

Web or World Wide Web The part of the Internet where you can publish and access multimedia-
enriched Web pages.

Web page Document on the World Wide Web, coded in HTML, that has a unique URL. There is no
limit to how long a particular Web page may be—it might be a document that fills up only half a screen,
or it might be one that would fill a hundred 8 1/2 by 11-inch pages if printed out. Web pages may contain
pictures, sounds, animation, and video in addition to styled text.

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