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History and the evolution of the internet.

The vast, global internet of today had rather humble origins when it initiated. In 1969, the Department of Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) developed an experimental network called ARPAnet to link together
four supercomputing centres for military research. This network had the many and difficult design requirements that it
had to be fast, reliable, and capable of withstanding a nuclear bomb destroying any one computer center on the
network. From those original four computers, this network evolved into the sprawling network of millions of computers
we know today as the internet.

The internet itself is really a massive "network of networks." There is no central "Internet, Inc," to which you can
connect. Essentially, it is a collection of Internet service providers (ISPs) who each operate their own networks, with
their own clients, and agree to interconnect with each other and exchange packets. Many of the large ISPs sell
connections to their network to smaller ISPs, some of whom again sell connections to other ISPs.

Ultimately, these ISPs at all levels sell connections to individuals and corporations, who then merge their networks (or
individual computers) into this larger network called the internet.

While there is no exact governance of the Internet, communication standards and coordination of ISP actions are
overseen by a nonprofit organization called the Internet Society.

An affiliated organization, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) coordinates the work of numerous committees
that define Internet communication standards and research methods of explaining and improving Internet
communication. The actual communication standards are referred to as RFCs (Requests for Comments) and are
voluntarily adhered to by all ISPs.

Internet uses can be simply categorized as publishing and getting information on various subjects like marketing,
management, science, new technologies, training materials, jobs, higher education, mathematics, music, games,
software, etc. and E-Commerce

And the kind of information available in the internet can also be listed as text documents, graphic files, sound and
video files, downloadable games and software, demo games and software, etc.

At the speed the internet has been evolving, many predictions can be made about the internet in the future, like main
communication method coming with functions of being translated automatically into the language preferred by the
receiver, finding a tune through humming into the microphone, virtual tours of a house, car, etc. could become
common thing.

This is what the Internet has become today, starting from its modest birth in 1969, to become an indispensable
service for the human race at present and will remain the same in the future.
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Here is a list of the terms associated with the structure and design of the Internet. You may want to take a
quick look at the basic of Internet technology before going ahead.

: The acronym stands for Advanced Research Projects Agency Network. ARPA of the United
States Department of Defense developed ARPANET, which became the world¶s first packet switching
network. Internet is the successor of ARPANET.

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: A company, which provides users with an access to the Internet, is known as
an Internet service provider or Internet access provider. ISP, as it is called, offers email accounts and
other services like remote storage of files for its customers. Here is a word about choosing a cheap ISP.

R : The Open System Interconnection Model is used to describe a layered communication and
network protocol design of a network. It is composed of seven layers, each of which performs certain
functions and provides the layers above it with some services. Go through an elaborate description of
the OSI model.

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: It is a set of communication protocols, which are used for the Internet.
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP) were the two pioneering protocols to be
introduced in the Internet protocol standard. The Internet protocol suite is composed of a set of layers
wherein; each layer provides a service to the upper layers in the set. The upper layers deal with abstract
data while the lower layer protocols translate data into physically transmittable forms.

: Point-to-Point protocol (PPP) is a data link protocol that facilitates the establishment of a direct
connection between two nodes on a network. Here is a brief introduction to the Point-to-Point-protocol.

R: It is a way of numerically identifying an entity on a computer network. The original

addressing system known as IPv4, used 32 bit addresses. With the growth of the Internet, IPv6 came to
be used wherein the addresses are composed of 128 bits. You might want to knowc
.

: Media Access Control address (MAC) is the physical hexadecimal address assigned to
each device on a network.

 
: DNS, as it is called, refers to the hierarchical naming system used for
computers, resources and services on the Internet. It translates the computer hostnames to IP addresses.
By way of the implementation of DNS, the domain name µwww.buzzle.com¶ translates to its IP address,
say, 208.70.178.150. With the help of DNS, domain names can be assigned to Internet users.

 : This term coined by William Gibson, is used to refer to the computer networks connected to
each other and the content they host. It is often used to refer to the Internet.

!!!: It is a collection of interlinked documents that are accessible over the Internet. It consists of
millions of web pages that contain text, images, voice and videos. Sir Tim Berners-Lee, a British scientist
working at CERN, created the World Wide Web.

!": It is the acronym used for the World Wide Web Consortium, which develops standards for the web
community.

!
: A website is a set of web pages consisting of text, audio and video. Web servers host websites.
Know all about website designing.

#$: It specifies the location of a resource on the Internet. It consists of the basic address and path.

!
: Web pages are resources of information. They are generally created in the HTML format and
provide the web users with navigational abilities through hyperlinks to other web pages on the web. Know
all about web page design.

: The term home page is used to refer to the page that is the default page of any website. It is
the main page of a complex website. Here is an example of the Buzzle home page.

%: Client machines on a network connect to the proxy server, which forwards the client
requests to other servers and returns responses to the clients.

!: A web server is a computer program that accepts HTTP requests from web clients and
provides them with HTTP responses.

!&': A web browser is a software application that facilitates user interaction with the text,
audio, video and other information that is located on the web.

 : Web browsers maintain a cache of recently visited web pages. Some of them use an external
proxy web cache, which is a server program through which web requests pass. This enables the
browsers to cache frequently visited pages. Even search engines make available already indexed web
pages through their caches.

: Hypertext Transfer Protocol, abbreviated as HTTP, is a communications protocol used for the
transfer of information over the Internet. A client makes an HTTP request using a web browser to which
an HTTP response is sent from the server.

!(: Also known as an HTTP cookie, it is piece of text that is exchanged between the web client
and the web server. It is sent by the web server to the web client and returned unchanged by the client
each time it accesses the server. You might want to know how do websites use cookies?

 : It is an exchange of information between a computer and its user. It is established for a certain
period of time after which it ends.

   (: A reference in a document to another section of the document or to another document is

termed as a hyperlink. Hyperlinks are used to redirect the user from one section of a page content to
another.

!)*+: It is used to describe the changes in the www technology and web design. The term deals with
the idea of the development of interactivity and connectivity of the web content.

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: It is one of the major concerns today. As the Internet acts as a communication platform
that can be accessed by millions of users around the world, it becomes necessary that proper measures
be implemented. Issues like Internet safety that deal with the content that is made accessible over the
Internet are equally important. Internet privacy relates to safeguarding the privacy of the web users and the
sensitive information on the web from hackers and stalkers.

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Internet serves as one of the most efficient means of communication. Computers from different parts of
the world can be connected to each other to exchange information, thanks to the Internet. Emails and
chats are excellent means of communication over the Internet. Blogs and online forums give the Internet
users a platform to reach out to the masses. Here is a list of the basic Internet terms associated with the
Internet as a communication platform. Also look at some Internet terms related to the security threats to
network communication.

 : It is a store-and-forward method of writing, sending and receiving written messages. Electronic
mail is an Internet e-mail system that uses network-based protocols to exchange messages between
network subsystems. What is an email account? I am sure, you at least have one!

 : It identifies the network location to which an email can be delivered. An email address is
a combination of the username of the mail user and the host name of the mailing system. It is of the form,
µusername@domain-name¶. An email alias is a forwarding email address. It simply forwards emails to
specific email addresses.

 
: The act of sending unsolicited bulk messages over an email system is known as spamming.
It is an undesirable use of the electronic messaging systems. To know how to save yourself from spasm,
learn about spam filters.

  
: It is a fraudulent activity of acquiring the sensitive information by the use of a fake identity
during electronic communication. It is implemented by means of emails and instant messages wherein a
user is lured to enter his/her details, which are actually captured by a fraudulent website.

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: Hacking is the activity of programmatically gaining access to a computer application that is
otherwise inaccessible. The act of gaining an unauthorized access to a computer is known as hacking.
Hacking of passwords that leads to breach of email privacy is a threat to communication over the
Internet. Internet crimes refer to all the criminal activities that are carried over the Internet.

 : With the increase in the use of email systems, its security needs also rose. Fraudulent
users started tampering with the email systems to breach security.

 ,: It is a computer code that is transmitted through an email in the form of an attachment. The
email attachment causes the destruction of some of the files on the receiver computer¶s hard disk and is
programmatically emailed to the contacts in the address book of the receiver.

  
: It is also known as a mail user agent (MUA). An email client is a front-end computer
program or an agent that acts as a client for the email server.

 : It can also be called as a Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) and is responsible for receiving
incoming email from local users and forwarding outgoing mails for delivery. A mail server application
forms the heart of a messaging system that performs all the functions to keep the mails moving over the
network.

: Short for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, SMTP is the standard for the transmission of electronic
mails. The electronic mail server software uses SMTP to send and receive mail messages. ESMTP, that
is known as extended or enhanced SMTP refers to the protocol extensions made to SMTP and is widely
used today.

": Short for Post Office Protocol, POP3 is an application layer Internet standard protocol. It is used to
retrieve mails from a remote server. Here is a brief introduction to POP3.

R: Internet Message Access Protocol, as it is called, is another Internet standard protocol used for
retrieval of emails.

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: It is a real-time Internet chat or synchronous conferencing that is used for group
communication as well as one-to-one communication over the Internet. Jarkko Oikarinen, a Ph.D. from
the University of Oulu is the developer of the first Internet chat network. He developed the client and
server programs for Internet Relay Chat in August 1988. Do you want to know about some good chat
rooms?

 
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: Social networking is about building online communities of like-minded people.
Serving as an excellent platform for sharing of information, social networking is a rage today.

$: Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, abbreviated as ADSL, is used for the transmission of digital
information using high bandwidths on existing phone lines. ADSL technology is characterized by high
download and low upload rates.

  : It is the means to connect to the Internet using the copper phone lines and a modem. Dial-up
connections are capable of sending information from the client¶s end at very slow speeds of about
56kbps.

: It is a device that modulates analog carrier signals to encode digital information and
demodulates carrier signals to decode information. A cable modem provides access to data signals sent
over the cable television infrastructure. Modems are commonly used for facilitating Internet access.

 
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: It refers to the data that can be transferred between two points in a given
period of time. It is expressed in terms of bits per second. It is commonly known as the bit rate.

& 
: Blogs are the expressions of the common masses about social or political issues or simply
anything. Blogs can often be in the form of creative write-ups by writers in different parts of the world.
Know more about blogging.

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-: It is a bulletin board that serves as a platform for group discussion. Registered users
are free to contribute to the issues raised in forums thus making them open discussion platforms.

# 
: Usenet can be considered as a worldwide bulletin board. Usenet newsgroups serve as a
repository of messages posted from users around the world.

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Internet that hosts an ocean of information has also become an excellent platform for information
retrieval. The Internet search engines, which crawl and index web pages, organize the information on the
Internet and the web directories link to information on the network. Here is a list of the Internet terms that
relate to Internet as a search platform.

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 : It is an information retrieval system that is designed to help find information over
the Internet. Search engines use algorithms to scan the huge information base of the Internet and sort it
making it retrievable for the web users.

!' : Popularly known as a spider, a web crawler is a program that browses the World Wide
Web in an automated manner. Search engines use the crawling technologies to index pages on the web.

 
 
.
 : The process of organizing the content of a website with intent to increase
its relevance with respect to keywords and search engines. The process of optimization involves editing
website content and HTML coding to support search engine strategies of ranking and indexing.

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&((: The Internet browsers of the modern times aim at enabling the users to organize the
web pages they access. Links once visited can be saved in the favorites or preferences categories.
Bookmarks are usually integrated into browsers. Social bookmarking is a method used by the Internet users
to store and manage web pages.

!
: It is a directory, which links to other websites and organizes those links. They should
not be mistaken as being search engines. Go through some articles on website submission.


 


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: A router connects two or more logical subnets and performs the functions of routing and
forwarding information.

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: It is a relatively smaller private network that uses the Internet protocols and connectivity. It is an
extension of the Internet and is privately used by organizations.

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: It is a private network that uses Internet technology to share a part of the business information
and operations with suppliers and customers. It can be a part of a company¶s intranet that provides
access to the users outside the company.
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'(: It is a private network that allows the exchange of information between
computers over a shared or a public network.

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: It refers to computer networking that is carried out over the wireless media.

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: Broadband connectivity to the Internet provides the users with a high-speed
Internet access. Know all about high speed Internet connectivity.

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: In this type of access to the Internet, the user¶s computer is attached to a modem
connected to a telephone line. Dial-up Internet access involves a modem that dials into an Internet
service provider to establish a connection.


 
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: Internet services that make use of the satellite communication media are termed as
satellite Internet services. They are used in locations that are mobile thus making terrestrial Internet
connectivity, an impossibility.

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: The Google search engine, being the most popularly used one, has made the word, µGoogle¶
synonymous to the concept of search engines. Searching the Internet by using the Google search engine is
known as goggling.

  
: If a text is copy pasted from somewhere and posted in a forum, it is termed as a copy pasta.
The source is often unknown in such cases. Are you into copy pastas?


: The web users who search over the Internet for themselves fall under the class of ego
surfers. I am sure most of you play an ego surfer once in a while.


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: This term is short for net etiquette and refers to the principles of courtesy and consideration
for the people using the Internet. It refers to certain basic principles to adhere to while using the Internet.
The general ethical principles to be followed in relation to using mailing systems of the Internet are
termed as email etiquettes.

 : The users who search over the Internet using all possible means, sometimes even risking the
Internet security are known as trashers.

 : Trolls are the users who try to become infamous on chat by introducing disturbing links, mimicking
other users¶ posts and profiles and fighting with others.

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: A person who is addicted to watching videos on the Internet is referred to as a you tuber.

This was an overview of the basic Internet terms and terminology. I am sure an understanding of the
basic Internet terminology has served as a value addition to your knowledge pool. Hasn¶t it?
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