INTERNET AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB

The Internet is a worldwide collection of networks that connects millions of businesses, government
agencies, educational institutions and individuals.

INTERNET SERVICES
The followings are examples of internet services;-
i. The web.
ii. Email.
iii. VoIP.
iv. Instant messaging.
v. Chat rooms.
vi. Discussions.
vii. Forums and
viii. FTP.

EVOLUTION OF THE INTERNET

The internet has its roots in a networking project started by the Pentagon’s Advanced Research Agency
(ARPA), an emergency of the US defense.

ARPA’s goal was to build a network that (1) allowed scientists at different physical locations to share
information and work together on military and scientific projects and (2) could function even if part of
the network were disabled or destroyed by a disaster such as nuclear attack.
That network called ARPANET became functional in September 1969 linking scientific and academic
researchers across the United States.

A hosts, more commonly known today as a server is any computer that provides services and
connections to other computers on a network. Hosts often use high-speed communications to transfer
data and messages over a network.

By 1984, ARPANET had more than 1,000 individual computers linked as hosts. Today, Millions of hosts
connect to this network, which is now known as Internet.

The internet consists of many local, regional, national and international networks. Both public and
private organizations own the internet. These networks, along with phone companies, cable and
satellite companies, and the government, all contribute toward the internal structure of internet.

CONNECTING TO THE INTERNET

Users can connect their computers to the Internet through;-
i. Wired technology or
ii. Wireless technology and then access its services free or for a fee.
Wired Technology; With wired technology, a computer or device physically attaches via a cable or wire to
a communication devices such as a moderm, that transmit data and other items over the transmission
media to the internet.

Wireless Technology
For wireless connections, many computers include the necessary built in technology so that they can
transmit data and other items wirelessly. Computers without this capability can use a wireless modem or
any other communication devices that enables wireless connectivity.

A wireless moderm for example uses cellular radio network to provide internet connections. The wireless
modems is known as a dongle. Which is a small device that connects to a computer.

Today, Users connects to the internet via broadband internet service because of its fasts data transfer
speeds and its always on connection. Through broadband internet services, users can download
webpages quickly, play online games, communicate in real time with others and more.

Table below shows example of popular wired and wireless broadband Internet service technologies for
home and small business users.
Technology Description
Cable Internet services Provides high speed internet access through the cable television network
via a cable modem.
DSL(digital Subscriber Line) Provides high speed internet connections through the telephone Network
via a DSL Modem.
Fiber to the premises Uses fiber optic cable to provide high speed internet access via a modem.
(FTTP)
Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) Uses Internet signals to provide high speed internet connections to
computers and devices with built in Wi-Fi capability or a communication
device that enables Wi-Fi connectivity.
Mobile Broadband Offers high speed internet connections over the cellular radio network to
computers and devices with built in Compatibility technology (such as 3G,
4G, or 5G) or a wireless modem or other communication device.
Fixed Wireless Provides high speed internet connections using a dish-shaped antenna
such as a house or business to communicate with a tower location via
radio signal.
Satellite Internet service Provides high speed internet connections via satellite to a dish that
communicates with a satellite modem.

INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS (ISP)

An Internet service provider (ISP), Sometimes called an Internet Access provider is a business that
provides individuals and organizations access to the internet free or for a fee. ISPs often charge a fixed
amount for an internet connections, offering customers a variety of plans based on desired speeds,
bandwidth and services.
Bandwidth represents the amount of data that travels over a network. A higher bandwidth means more
data transmit. Data sizes typically are stated in terms of megabytes and gigabytes.

DOMAIN NAMES AND IP ADDRESSES

Take a look at these;-
IPv4 address 71.14.207.99
IPv6 address 2001:4860:4860::8844
Domain name: google.com

An IP address, short for Internet protocol address, is a sequence of numbers that uniquely identifies the
location of each computer or device connected to the Internet.

The Internet uses two IP addressing Schemes: IPv4 and IPv6. Due to the growth of the internet, the
original scheme, IPv4, began dwindling in availability. To rectify the problem, the IPv6 scheme
lengthened the address, which increased the available number of IP addresses exponentially. Because
all-numeric IP addresses are difficult to remember and use, the internet supports domain names.

Domain Name
A domain name is a text based name that correspond to the IP address of a server that hosts a website.
A domain name is part of the web address that you type in a browser’s address bar to access a website.

The suffix of the domain name, called the top-level domain (TLD), identifies the type of organization
associated with the domain.
Table showing Popular TLDs
TLD INTENDED PURPOSE
.Com Commercial organization, businesses and companies.
.edu Educational Institution
.gov Government agencies
.mil Military organisations
.net Network providers or commercial companies
.org Non-profit organisation

The domains name system (DNS) is the method that the Internet uses to store domain names and their
corresponding IP addresses. When you enter a domain name (i.e. google.com) in a browser, a DNS server
translates the domain name to its associated IP address so that the requests can be routed to the correct
computer.

THE WORLD WIDE WEB

While the internet was developed in the late 1960’s, the world wide web emerged in the early 1990s.
since then, it has grown phenomenally to become one or more widely used services on the internet.
The world wide web (WWW), or the web is a world wide collection of electronic documents.
Each electronic document on the wb is called a webpage, which can contain text, graphics, audio,
animation, and vide.

Some web pages are static (fixed); others are dynamic (changing). Visitors to a statics webpage all see
the same content. With a dynamic webpage, by contrasts, Visitors can customize some or all of the
viewd contents, such as desired stock quotes, weather for a region or ticket availability for flights.

A website is a collection of related webpages and associated items, such as documents and pictures,
stored on a web server.

A web server is a computer that delivers requested webpages to your computer or mobile devices. The
same web servers can store multiple websites.

As web technologies maturedin the mid 2000s, industry experts introduced the term web 2.0 to refer to
websites that provides a mean for users to share personal information (such as online social networks),
allow users to modify website contents (such as wikis) and provide application through a browser (such
as web apps).

BROWSING AND NAVIGATING THE WEB

A Browser is an application that enables users with internet connection to access and view web pages.
When you run a browser, it may retrieve and display a starting webpage, sometimes called a home page.
The initial homepage that is displayed in the browser.
Desktop browsers typically support tabbed browsing, where the top of the browsers shows a tab (similar
to a file folder tab) for each webpage you display. Tabbed browsing allows users to have multiple home
pages that automatically are displayed when the browser runs.

SAFE BROWSING TECHNIQUES

- Clear your browsing history.
- Verify the website is safe.
- Use a phising filter. Pishing is a scam in which a perpetrator attempts to obtain your personal
and/or financial information.
- Browsing anonymously. To protect your online identity, use a proxy server, which is another
computer that screens all your incoming and outgoing messages.
- Enable a pop up blocker.

Examples of Browsers
- Chrome: Google’s chrome is one of the new browsers offerings first released in 2008.
- Firefox; Developed by the Mozilla Corporation for computers running Window, Mac OS, and
Linux. This free general purpose browser was first released in 2004.
- Internet Explorer; Microsoft’s free browser, internet Explorer, is available primarily for Microsoft
Windows and comes preinstalled. First released in 2004.
 - Internet Explorer; Microsoft’s free browser, Internet Explorer is available primarily for Microsoft
Windows and comes preinstalled. First released in 1995.
- Safari; Preinstalled on apple computers and mobile devices, safari has been the default browser
for Mac OS since 2003 and is relatively new to windows.
- Opera; This second oldest browser is free, fast and small. It began as a research project in
Norway in 1994 and introduced several features found on most of today’s browsers.

Web addresses
A web page has a unique address, called a web address or URL (Uniform Resource Locator). A
browser retrieves a webpage using its web address.

A web address consists of protocol, domain name and sometimes the host name, path to a specific
webpage, or file name of the webpage.

The http, which stands for Hypertext Transfer protocol, is a set of rules that defines how web pages
transfer on the internet.

Many web pages begins with http:// as the protocol. The text between the protocol and the domain
name, called the host name, identifies the types of internet server.

The www, for example indicates a web server.

Domain name path Webpage name

Protocol Host name

http://www.nps.gov/history/places.htm

TYPES OF WEBSITES
1. Search engine; A search engine is a software that finds websites, webpages, images, videos,
news, maps and other information related to a specific topic. Thousands of search engine are
available. Some search engines, such as Bing, Google, and yahoo!.
2. Online social networks; An online social network or social networking site, is a website that
encourages members in its online community to share their interests, ideas, stories, photos,
musics and videos with other registered users. Some social networking sites also enables users
to communicate through text, voice and video chat, and play games together online. Examples of
social networking sites include;-
- Facebook
- Watsapp
- LinkedIn, Google +, Twitter, Instagram.
3. Informational websites; an informational websites contains factual information. Examples
includes libraries, encyclopedias, dictionaries, directories, guides), and other types of reference.
 4. Media sharing and bookmarking sites; A media sharing site is a website that enables members to
manage and share media such photos, videos and music. These websites are sometimes called
photo sharing sites, video sharing sites and music sharing sites, respectively.
5. News, Weather, Sports and other Mass Media; News, Weather, sports and other mass media
websites contains news worthy material, including stories and articles relating to current events,
life, money, politics, weather and sports.
6. Educational; An educational websites offers exciting, challenging avenues for formal and
informal teaching and learning.
7. Business, Governmental, Organizational; A business websites contains content that increases
brand awareness, provides company background or other information, and/or promotes or sells
products or services.
8. Blogs; A blog short for weblog) is an informal websites consisting of time stamped articles, or
posts in a diary or journal format, usually listed in reverse chronological orders.
9. Wikis; A wiki is a collaborative websites that allows users to create, add, modify or delete the
websites content via a browser.
10. Portal; a portal is a website that offers a variety of internet services from a single, convenient
location. Most portals offer these free services; Search engine; news, sports, and weather; web
publishing; reference tools such as yellow pages, stock quotes, and maps; shopping and email
and other communications services.
11. E-Commerce; E-commerce short for electronic commerce, is a business transaction that occurs
over an electronic network such as the internet.

Some people use the term m-commerce (mobile commerce) to identify e-commerce that takes
place using mobile devices. Popular uses of e-commerce by consumers include shopping and
auctions, finance, entertainments and health.

TYPES OF E-COMMERCE
- Business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce; This consists of the sale of goods and services to the
general public such as at a shopping websites.
- Consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce; this occurs when one consumer sells directly to
another such as in an online auction.
- Business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce occurs when business provides goods and services to
other businesses online, such as online advertising, recruiting, credit, sales, market research,
technical support and training.

INTERNET SERVICES
As previously mentioned, the web page is only one of the may services on the internet. Other internet
services includes the following;-
i. Email (Short for electronic mail); is the transmission of messages and files via a computer
network. Email was one of the original services on the internet, enabling scientists and
researchers working on government-sponsored projects to communicate with colleagues at
other location. Today, email is one of the primary communications methods for personal and
business use.

An email address is a combination of a user name and domain name that identifies a user so
that he or she can retrieve internet email. A user name is a unique combinations of
characters, such as letters of the alphabet and/or numbers that identifies a specific user.
ii. Email Lists; An email lists, or electronic mailing lists are a group of email addresses used for
mass distribution of a message. When a message is sent to an email lists, each person on the
lists receives a copy of the message in his or her mailbox
iii. Instant Messaging; Instant messaging (IM) is a real time internet communications services
that notifies you when one or more of your established contacts are online and then allows
you to exchange messages or files or joins a private chat room with them.
iv. Chat rooms; A chat is a real time typed conversation that takes place on a computer with
many other online users. A chat room is a website or application that permits users to chat
with others who are online at the same time.
v. Discussion forums; A discussion forum, or message board, is an online area in which users
have a written discussions about a particular subject. To participate in a discussion, a user
posts a message, called an article, to the news group, other users in the news group read
and reply to the messages.
vi. VoIP (VoIP, short for Voice over IP(internet protocol), enables users to speak to other users
via their internet connections. That is, VoIP uses the internet (instead of the public switched
telephone network) to connect a calling party to one or more local or long distance called
parties. To place an internet telephone call, you need a broadband internet connections, a
microphone and speaker, both of which are included with a standard computer or mobile
devices, and VoIP software such as skype.
vii. FTP (File transfer protocol); is an internet standard that permits file uploading and
downloading to and from other computers on the internet.
Uploading is the process of transferring file from your computer to a server on the internet.
Downloading is the process of transferring files from as server on the internet to your
computer.
Webpage developers, for example often use FTP to upload their webpages to a web server.
NOTE
Netiquettes, which is short for Internet etiquette, is the code of acceptable behaviours users should
follow while on the internet; that is, it is the conduct expected for individuals while online.

Nettiquettes includes rules for all aspects of the internet, including the web web, social media, instant
messaging, chat rooms, discussion forums, and FTP.
Question on internet;
1. A. Distinguish between the folloing terms used in internet (2 marks @)
a. Network and Internet
b. IP address and domain name.
c. Www and search engine
b) With the help of diagrams, describe any three types of network topologies you know.
c) What are some of the advantages of using internet today in your village?
d) Explain any three disadvantages of using internet (3 marks)
e) Describe three types of network you know.
f) Discuss any two types of Internet connection (2 marks)

PAST PAPERS (2000)

1. A) What is meant by the following terms?
i. E-Mail.
ii. Internet
b) Explain briefly how the internet can be used as a learning tool
c) i) Mention four advantages of the internet
ii) Mention four disadvantages of the internet

2. A. What is meant by the following terms

i. HTML
ii. Websites
b. State three advantages of web publishing.
c. Describe how a web page is a source of information.
d. What is the difference between a WWW and a web page
3. a) Define the following terms.
i. Internet
ii. Intranet
b. Give two differences between the Internet and Intranet.
Explain the following Terms
i. TCP
ii. IRC
c. State three factors affecting communication over the internet.
d. Mention four requirements needed to connect to the internet.

3. A. Explain the folloing terms;

i. HTML
ii. Website
iii. WWW
b) (i) What is a web page address?
ii. Give any two examples that qualify as web page address
c(i) What is the difference between a web page and an HTML
iii. Write URL in full.
iv. Outline three precautions that should be taken in the computer laboratory.

MERITS/ADVANTAGES OF USING INTERNETS

The internet is a network of computers spanning the globe. The followings are the merits of internet;-
a. Information; The internet provides a wide range of information ranging from government law
and services, trade fairs and conference, market information, new ideas etc. Any kind of
information under the sun is available on the internet.
b. Research; Internet offers computer users the ability to gather resources and research on
different topics with ease.
c. Public services; Internet provides many services such as online banking, online job seeking and
applications, hotel reservations amongst others.
d. Communities; Internet provides a great way for people with similar interest to meet and discuss
common issues online.
e. Communication; Internet enables computer users to send and receive messages on line. This
method of sending messages is faster and less costly compared to the post office method of
sending mails.
f. Entertainment; Internet enables computer users to play game, watch movies and read stories,
poems and novels on line.
g. E-Commerce; Internet enables buying and selling on line without the buyer and seller meeting in
person. For example, a person can order for a product e.g. vehicle from America and have it
delivered up to Kitgum without having to travel up to America.
h. Advertisements; Internet helps the business communities to advertise their products on line so
as to easily reach the public, public can in turn place orders through the internet.

DEMERITS/DISADVANTAGES OF INTERNET
a. Theft of personal information; Using internet can expose the user to grace danger as the
person’s names, address, credit card number etc can be accessed by wrong people.
b. Information overload; The internet provides a lot of information which may be fake and
authentic in nature. These information sometimes tends to mislead a computer user.
c. Spamming; This referes to sending an unwanted email in bulk, which provides no purpose and
needlessly obstruct the entire system.
d. Virus attack; Computers connected to the internet are more prone to virus attack which at times
end up crushing the computers hard disk.
e. Moral degredation; There are a lot of information on the internet that degrades the moral
values of children like for example pornography.
NETWORKS
A network is a collection of computers and devices connected together via a communication devices and
transmission medias.

A network may be internal to an organization or span the world by connecting to the internet. Many
homes and Business usres create a network to;-
 Facilitate communication; Using network, people communicate efficiently and easily via email,
instant messaging, chatrooms, blogs, Wikis, wikis, online social networks, video calls, online
meetings, video conferencing, VoIP, wireless messaging services and more. Some of these
communications occur within an internal network. Other times, they occur globally over the
internet.
 Share hardware; Each computer or device on a network can be provided access to hardware on
the network. For example, each computer and mobile device users can access a printer on the
network, as they need it. Thus, home and business users create networks to save money on
hardware expenses.
 Share data and information; Any authorized user can access data and information stored on a
network. A large company, for example, might have a database of customer information.
 Share software; Users connected to a network have access to software on the network. To
support multiple user’s software access, vendors often sell versions of their software designed to
run on a network.
 Transfer funds; Electronic funds transfer (EFT), allows users connected on a network to exchange
money from one account to another via transmission media. Both business and consumers uses
EFT. Examples include wire transfers, use of credit cards and debit cards, direct deposits of funds
into banks accounts, online banking, and online bill payment.

TYPES OF COMPUTER NETWORKS

Networks usually are classified as;-
i. Local area network (LAN).
ii. Metropolitan area network (MAN).
iii. Wide area network (WAN).
iv. Personal Area network (PAN)

The main difference among these classifications is their area of coverage.

i) LAN
A local area network (LAN), is a network that connects computers and devices in a limited
geographical area such as homes, office, school, office building or closely positioned group of
buildings.

Each computer or devices on a network, called a node, often shares resources such as printers,
largest hard drives and programs. Often the nodes are connected via cables. Any computer
connections that spans a radius of not more than 100 meters can be categorized as a LAN.
 A Wireless LAN (WLAN) is a LAN that uses no physical wires. Computers and devices that access a
wireless LAN must have built-in wireless capability or the appropriate wireless network card, USB
adapter or other wireless device. A WLAN may communicate with a wired LAN for access to its
resources, such as software, hardware and the internet.

ii) MAN
A metropolitan area network (MAN) is a high-speed network that connects local area networks in a
metropolitan area such as city or town, and handles the bulk of communication activities across that
region.

iii) WAN
A wide area network (WAN) is a network that covers a large geographic areas such as a city, country
or the world) using a variety of wired and wireless transmission media.

A Wan can be one large network or can consist of multiple LANs connected together. The internet is
one of the world’s biggest WAN. A wide area network is said to exists when the computer networks
exceeds 100 meters.
iv. PAN
A personal area network (PAN) is a network that connects computers and devices in an individual
work space using wired or wireless technology.

A PAN may connect devices through a router using network cables or directly using special USB
cables. PANs also may use Bluetooth or Wi-Fi technology.

iv) A campus Area Network (CAN) is a computer network made up of an interconnection of local
area networks (LANs) within a limited geographical area. It can be considered one form of a
metropolitan area network, specific to an academic setting.
In case of a university based campus area network, the network is likely to link a variety of campus
buildings including; academic departments, the University library and students residence halls. A
CAN is larger than local area network but smaller than a WAN.

NETWORK ARCHITECTURES/NETWORK STRUCTURAL MODELS

The configuration of computers, devices and media in a network, sometimes called the network
architecture is categorized as;-
a. Client/server or
b. Peer-to-peer.

CLIENT/SERVER; On a client/server network, one or more computers acts as server, and the other
computers on the network requests services from the server.
A server, sometimes called a host computer, controls access to hardware, software and other resources
on the network and provides a centralized storage area for programs, and information.

The clients are other computers on the network that rely on the server for its resources. For example, a
server might store an organization’s email messages. Clients on the network, which include any user’s
connected computers, access email messages on the server.

PEER-TO-PEER network (P2P) is a simple, inexpensive network that typically connects fewer than 10
computers. Each computer, called a peer, has equal responsibilities and capabilities, sharing hardware
(such as a printer), data, or information with other computers on the peer-to-peer network. Each
computer stores files on its own storage devices.

Here, a group of computers is connected together so that the users can share resources and information.
There is no central location for authenticating users, sharing files or accessing resources.

NETWORK TOPOLOGIES
A network topology refers to the layout of the computers and devices in a communication network.
Alternatively; It can be defined as “The layout of the interconnections of the nodes of a computer
network" The most common network topologies are;-
i) A bus network topology.
ii) A star network.
iii) A mesh network
iv) A ring network
v) Overlay network.
vi) Tree network Structure.

STAR NETWORK
On a star network, all of the computers and devices (nodes) on the network connect to a central device,
thus forming a star. All data that transfers from one node to another passes through the central device.
Advantages of Star Topology
 Star Networks are fairly easy to install and maintain.
 Nodes can be added to and removed with little or no disruption to the network.

BUS NETWORK
A bus network consists of a single central cable, to which all computers and other devices connect. The
bus is the physical cable that connects the computers and other devices.

The bus is the physical cable that connects the computers and other devices. The bus in a bus network
transmits data, instructions and information in both directions.
When sending device transmits data, the address of the receiving device is included with the
transmission so that the data is routed to the appropriate receiving devices.
Advantages of bus network
- Bus networks are inexpensive and easy to install.
- Computers and other devices can be attached and detached at any point on the bus without
disturbing the rest of the network.
- Failure of one device usually does not affect the rest of the bus network.

Ring Network
On a ring network, a cable forms a closed loop (ring) with all computers and devices arranged along the
ring. Data transmitted on a ring networks travels from devices to devices around the entire ring, in one
direction.

If a computer or device on a ring network fails, the entire network potentially could stop functioning.
A ring network could span a larger distance than a bus networks, but it is more difficult to install.
The ring topology primarily is used for LANS, but it also used in WANS.
Advantages of Ring Topology
1. They are very easy to troubleshoot because each device incorporates a repeater.
2. A special internal feature called beaconing allows troubled workstations to identify themselves
quickly.
3. There is no master computer on controller. Every computer has equal chance to place the data
and access the token.
4. There are no collisions.
5. Data Packet travels at greater speeds.
6. It is easier to locate the problem with the device and cable. I.e. faulty isolation is simplified. If
one device does not receive a signal within a specified time, it can issue an alarm. This alarm
alerts the network operator to the problem and its location.
Disadvantages of Ring Topology
i. A ring requires more cable than a bus network.
ii. A break in cable ring brings down entire network (in case of single ring).
iii. Adding or removing the nodes disturbs the network activity.
iv. In ring network, communication delay is directly proportional to the number of nodes in the
network. Hence addition of new nodes in the network also increases communication delay.
v. It is considerably difficult to install and reconfigure ring topology.
vi. Media failure on a single loop cause complete network failure.

Ring Topology
Ring topology, lso known as Ring Network, is a type of network topology where each node is exactly
connected to two other nodes, forward and backward, thus forming a single continuous path for single
transmission.
Token Passing
Token contains a piece of information which is sent along with data by the source computer. In easier
term, a token is like a permission packet which allows a particular node the permission to release
information over the network.

A token is regularly passed from one node to another. An if a node has some information to pass on the
network, the node releases the information. If the node does not have any data to release on the
network, then it transfers the token to the next node. The nodes with token are the only ones allowed
to send data. Other nodes have to wait for an empty token to reach them.
ADVantAgES of ring TOPOLOGY
i. Reduced chances of data collision as each node releases adata packet after receiving the token.
j. Token passing makes ring topology perform better than Bus topology uner heavy traffic.
k. No need of server to control connectivity amongs nodes.
l. Equal access to resources.