Computer Application in Business - 3

Computers in Management 33
Unit-4: Data Communication and Networking

Notes
Structure
4.0 Introduction
4.1 Data Communication
4.2 Types of Signals and Transmission
4.3 Categorisation of Transmission
4.4 Transmission Media
4.5 Networks
4.6 Networks Strategy
4.7 Network Topology
4.8 LAN Types
4.9 Future of Communication and Networking
4.10 Security and Privacy
4.11 Summary
4.12 Answer to Check your Progress
4.13 Further Reading
4.0 Introduction
The Personal computers offer a wide range of computing power. If more computing
power is needed, one way to get it is to buy a larger computer system. But buying a
larger computer system is not possible for many small businesses or companies.
Another problem arises for those who are geographically dispersed. They may need to
send messages to, receive messages, or share programme at, many different locations.
One solution to this problem is to keep separate data files at each location. But this
approach is very costly and potentially a risky solution. It is very expensive to maintain
these redundant files of data and difficult to ensure the continuing accuracy of data
at any one location. The solution of both, the need for more power and the ability to
receive, and messages and share data, are found in data communication technology.
4.1 Data Communication

Communication refers to sending, receiving or processing information. The main
components of data communication are data source, data sink and communication media.
The source is the originator of information, while the sink is the receiver of information.
The media is the path though which the information is transmitted from the source to sink.
This media could be anything like telephone wire, a fiber optical line or a satellite link.
Medium
Sender Receiver
(Source) (Sink)
Carries the message
Creates Receives
the message the message
Figure 10 : Communication Process
A modern communication system is first concerned with sorting, processing and

storing of information before its transmission. After that, the information flows for
further processing and filtering of noise. Finally, we have the reception which includes
processing steps such as decoding, storage and interpretation.
Amity Directorate of Distance & Online Education
34 Computers in Management
Notes Information contained in any message is measured in bits and bytes and depends in
number of choices that must be made. Greater the total number of possible selections,
large amount of information is covered.
4.2 Types of Signals and Transmission

There are many quantities that can be represented as electric signals. These electric
signals are of two types
• Analog signals
• Digital Signals
Analog Signals
Analog signals are continuous signals. They are ideal for representing natural
phenomenon like pressure, temperature whose values are mostly in fractions.
Digital Signals
In the digital system of signals, there are only two states of the signal- Present and
Not Present, True or False, or 1 or 0. Any quantity other than these is required to be
represented in terms of these. Digital signals are the basis of the modern computers. Every
thing that is to be stored in the computer is represented in the of binary form. But in real
life, we use the decimal numbers system, in which digits are from 0 to 9. All the quantities
of real life are the combinations of any of these 10 digits (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9,).
But, in case of digital signals, there are only two levels which can represent a zero or
a one. Any other number or quantity must be the combination of only a combination of
these binary digits which are more commonly known as bits.
Types of Transmission
There are two type of transmission
1. Analog Transmission
2. Digital Transmission
1. Analog Transmission
Analog signals can travel a long distance without much effort. Most common
example of transmission of analog signals is telephone network. Sometimes the
digital signals are converted to analog signals and transmitted. This conversion is
called modulation. At the receiving end, these converted signals are converted back to
digital signals. This process of conversion is called demodulation. The device for these
conversions is called modem (modulator-demodulator).
Voltage
+V
–V
Figure 11 : Analog Data Transmission

However, there are some disadvantages of analog transmission. The most common Notes
disadvantage is problem of noise. During transmission, another analog signal merges
with the original analog signal. At the receiving end, noise is also received along with
original signal.
2. Digital Transmission
As compared to the analog signals, transmission of digital signals is less errorprone,
but the digital signals cannot travel a long distance. For that purpose, they require
an additional hardware, called the booster. When a digital signal is transmitted, it is
required to be regenerated at the regular intervals. Thus, at the time of regeneration,
the noise signals are eliminated. Therefore, at the receiving end, the original signal is
received. Hence, digital transmission is preferred to analog transmission. To transmit
the analog signals with the quality of digital transmission, they are converted to
equivalent digital signals.
The advantage of the digital transmission are Low error rate, High transmission rate
and lowcost.
1 1 1 1
0 0 0 0
Figure 12 : Digital Data Transmission
4.3 Categorisation of Transmission

Data transmission can be characterised as simplex, half duplex, or full duplex,
depending on the permissible direction of the traffic flow.
Simplex Transmission
In simplex transmission, data is sent in just one direction only. Examples of such
transmission are the television broadcasting. Television is the receiver and the
Transmission Centre is the source. Television cannot transmit any signal back to the
transmitting centre.
Half Duplex Transmission

In half-duplex transmission, the transmission is allowed in both directions but in one
direction at a time. Example, a clerk sitting at a reservation counter sending the request
to the server and the server sends the results on the basis of the request, back to the
clerk on his computer.
Full Duplex Transmission

Full duplex transmission allows the transmission in both directions and that too
simultaneously. This means both the sender and receiver can send and transmit the
data together. Example is sending the request for some particular site to the server and,
at the same, time downloading some material from the site.
4.4 Transmission Media

Any communication system has three main parts- transmitter, transmission media
and receiver. Suppose two persons are standing a little distance apart. One person
says something to another person by shouting. His voice travels via the medium of air.
When the distance is long, it is not possible to transmit the voice via air only. At that
time, it becomes necessary to use some medium which could carry the sound waves.

Notes Similarly, when transmission takes place between two devices, a transmitting
medium is required. These transmitting media are the transmission lines or
communication channels.
Coaxial Cable: These are the groups of specially warped and insulated wire lines
that are able to transmit data at high speeds. They consist of central copper wire
surrounded by a PVC insulation over which a sleeve of copper mesh is placed. An outer
shield of thick PVC material again shields the metal sleeve. The signal is transmitted
by the inner copper wire and is electrically shielded by the outer metal sleeve. These
cables are capable of transmitting digital signals at very high rates of 10 mega bits
per second. They are extensively used in long distance phone lines and as cables for
closed circuit TV. They have much higher noise immunity and offer cleaner and crisper
data transmission without distortion or loss of signal.
Figure 13: Coaxial Cable

Optical Fibre Csable
Optical fibres are very fine long cables made up of gals which allows the light
signals to travel through them. They are made of silica or silicon dioxide. To produce
the fine fibres, molten solution of silica or silica dioxide with some other materials
such as arsenic or quartz. at very high temperature of 1900 degree celcius are drawn
into a cylindrical shape. This shape have an inner diameter in the range of 10 to 50
micrometres and outer diameter of 100-102 micrometres (one micrometer is one
millionth of a metre). This looks like a solid glass wire with cylindrical shape.
An optical fibre consists of an inner cylinder of glass. This inner cylinder is called
the core which is surrounded by another cylindrical sheel of glass or plastic of lower
refractive index. This is known as cladding. Light which is passed through it is red or
infra-red.
The optical fibres are becoming increasingly popular and playing an important role
in communications. This is because these fibres are advantageous than wires. Some of
the advantages are:-
(a) Light travels very fast in glass then electric signals in the metallic wire.
(b) Optical fibres have got high band width which is of order of GHz. This capacity
is 100 time faster and 1000 million times more information carrying than the
telephone line.
(c) These fibres are light in weight and easily twistable.
(d) Less expensive, since as glass is cheaper than copper.

(e) Optical fibres can tolerate high temperatures. Notes
Figure14 : Optical Fibre Cable
Twisted pairs
One of the most common communication media is the twister wire, also known as
wire pairs. They are four pairs of insulated copper conductors twisted and bounded
by single insulated sheath with or without conductor shield termed as STP and UTP
respectively. These are inexpensive and used very often. Example is the telephone wire.
Figure 15 : Twisted Pair
Microwave transmission
Another popular wireless medium is microwave transmission. It uses a line of sight
transmission of data signals through the atmosphere. These signals cannot bend
around the curvatures of the earth.
Microwave transmission is speedy, cost-effective and easy to implement medium for

transmission.
Figure 16: Microwave Stations

Notes Satellite communication

Satellite communication system needs a transmitting earth station, a receiving earth
station and the satellite to provide the link. The satellite link is the radio frequency link
between two earth stations. The link between transmitting station to satellite is an up-
link. The link between the satellite and receiving station is referred to as down-link.
As satellites are very far from the transmission or receiving point, the signals have
to travel a long distance which weakens the signals at the satellite as well as on earth
when received. This happens because much signal is lost to space. Partial loss occurs
due to the absorption by water vapour. So it becomes necessary to strengthen such
weak signals.
Also, at the satellite there should be some mechanism to differentiate between the
incoming and outgoing signals. For this, the frequency of incoming signal is changed.
This task of amplification and changing the frequency is done by a device, referred too
as responder, which is on-board the satellite.
Satellite communication have several unique properties like broadcast property,

geographical flexibility and high transmission rate. We can see the impact of satellite
communication in the better telecommunication and television services which are
available
Figure 17 : Satellite Communication
4.5 Networks
Network means interconnection of two or more devices. These devices may be
computers, telephones or other communicating device. In case of computers, it is
the connection between two or more autonomous computers. These computers are
connected with each other for information interchange. For connecting two computers,
different media are available like copper wires, microwaves, optical fibre and satellite.
These interconnected computers could spread either over a single geographic site,
such as a single or multi-storey building, or a complex or within several geographical
sites which themselves could be located in different towns, cities or even countries. So
network can spread over a area which could be as small as a room or as wide as the
whole world. Depending on the span of computer network, any network can be placed
in either of the following two categories.
1. LAN
2. WAN

LAN, i.e., Local Area Network is that network which covers the distances varying Notes
from 1m. to 1 km. This means that computers within one building or one premises are
said to be connected through Local Area Network. A network covering the physical
distance of more than 10 kms. is termed Wide Area Network. WAN could spread over a
town, a city or a country or even the entire globe.
LAN is a transmission system which allows a variety and number of computing

devices to exchange information at high speeds. These computing systems may vary
from a simple personal computer to large mainframes and peripherals.
Characteristics of a Local Area Network

1. LAN is spread over a moderate size usually a single geographical site having
some office building, a factory or a campus. This is because is LAN media used
to connect the systems is cable and the length of the cable is limited.
2. Low cost is also an important characteristic of LAN. It is a cheap way of

interconnecting the systems.
3. Resource sharing is the greatest advantage of LAN, which facilitates a sslarge

number of intelligent hardware devices to share information, files, storage
devices and even peripherals.
This had been the most common classification of networks for many years but
recently one more class of networks have been defined. It is MAN which is an acronym
for Metropolitan Area Network. MAN spans across the city and can be privately or
publicly owned.
Figure 18: LAN, WAN and MAN
4.6 Networks Strategy

The physical links can be organised using any of the following two strategies or
manners to provide connectivity to nodes:
• Point-to-point strategy
• Multi-point strategy

Notes Point-to-point Strategy

This is the strategy in which any node can communicate with its adjacent node
(s) only. In simple words, a point-to point network is that in which two nodes directly
connected can communicate. Any node can have a large number of adjacent nodes
which, in turn, can have their adjacent nodes.
Figure 19: Point to Point Transmission
Multi-point or Multi-drop Strategy

A multi-point or multi-drop network is that strategy in which many nodes share one
transmission line by sharing time on the line. This strategy is especially useful where
high speed data transmission capabilities are not necessary. Also, this technique is
cost effective. If a separate set of wires is used with every machine, the cost could be
high, but by using multipoint communications, one can implement a functional network
quickly at low cost. As many systems share the same line, so it takes long time to reach
the data to other system.
4.7 Network Topology

The physical layout of network is called its topology. It means the way in which the
end points or stations of a network are linked together. It determines the data paths
that may be used between any pair of stations of the network. The three most common
topologies are mesh, star, ring and bus.
Mesh Topology
In this topology each computer is connected to all the other computers on the
network. High speed as any computer can talk to any other computer at any point of
time basically a point to point type of connectivity. Mesh topology is employed for long-
distance transmission of data between nodes.
Figure 20: Mesh Topology

Star Topology Notes

In this topology, there is a central hub to which all the machines on the network are
connected, any information transfer is through this central controller.
This topology is used in the networks using electronic PABX. Very often in the
educational institution, we see that distribution of terminals from a computer connected
with, in which each terminal is connected to the central computer using dedicated cable.
Generally the terminals are dumb terminals and intelligence is available at centre point
only, i.e., the computer.
Figure 21 : Star Topology
Ring Topology
Individual computers, each attached to a repeating element, are connected together
in the form of a closed loop or ring with the direction of data flow being unidirectional. It
means this is a structure in which each node will have only two adjacent nodes. Being
connected in the form of a ring, there is no node having only one adjacent node.
Any station which wishes to transmit waits for its turn and on its turn sends the
data out onto a ring in the form of packet. This packet contains source and destination
addresses along with data. Signals are passed typically from one device to another in
only one direction. That is data is accepted from one of the adjacent nodes and passed
to another immediate adjacent node. So data moves in one direction along the ring.
Figure 22: Ring Topology

Notes Bus Topology

Bus is another popular topology of LAN. All the computers are connected to a single
transmission media normally a thin or thick coaxial cable, in the form of tappings.
The advantage of bus topology is simple wiring and the facility to extend the network
to cover large distances. New stations may be added to existing network without
configuring the network. Because all devices share a common communication medium,
only one pair of devices on a bus or tree can communicate at a time. Transmission is
done in the form of packets containing the source and destination addresses. In bus or
tree, the most commonly used transmission media is twisted pair.
Figure 23: Bus Topology
4.8 Lan Types

LAN can be arranged in different manners. Main LAN types are:
• Client server
• Peer-to-peer
Client Server
In client/server arrangement, we have a server, which is the computer that controls
the function of the entire network and a few clients attached to the server which are
served by the server. The server has a hard disk to hold the shared files, software and a
high quality printer, which could be accessed by all nodes.
All other computers in that network are called clients. Under client-server
arrangement, processing can be done at both the clients as well as the server ends.
In case the server is not up, then the processing can be done at the client end and the
clients behave as the independent computer systems which cannot share the resources
of other computers of the network.
Peer-to-peer
All computers in peer-to-peer arrangement has equal status and no one is server.
All files and data are distributed over the network and the computers can share the
resources of each other. The main disadvantage of peer-to-peer is slow sped because
of heavy use. Example of peer-to-peer arrangement is two systems having Windows 98
connected together by a single cable. Both the systems are at equal status in this local
intranet and both of them can share the resources of each other.
4.9 Future of Communication and Networking

It is probably safe to say that networking and data communications is the future of
computing. Currently, we are witnessing a race toward global connectivity, with progress
being made on almost every front:

• Networking technology is growing more sophisticated, and transmission speeds Notes

are increasing rapidly.
• All of the telecommunications industries- telephone companies, cable

companies, internet service providers, online services, and so on are working to
offer high bandwidth to homes and businesses.
Both the consumers of information and the telecommunications industry are rushing
towards the common goal of connectivity. Each group sees a future where bandwidth
will be cheap so that people can stay in touch no matter where they are, and the variety
of available information will be virtually unlimited.
4.10 Security and Privacy

Security and Privacy are important because many people in many places have
access to a computer network. The information stored in some of the network machines
may be of great value to an organisation. It must not be lost, stolen or damaged. It
is important to protect data from H/W and S/W failure from criminals, competitors and
people who could misuse it.
A network is often shared by different people. Some people may be responsible,

some may not be.
Security Protection of resources from damage, and or, data from accidents or
unknown person.
Privacy rights are for individuals for themselves how and what extent of information
about them is transmitted to others.
Privacy is closely related to security. Privacy is the issue which goes far beyond
computer centres and networking. To a large extent, it is a problem of society. To
preserve the privacy of data about individuals, the solutions are needed beyond
technical solutions. That is the reason that today new legal and social controls have
been introduced by the international law, so that the degree of privacy of personal
information that is cherished today could be maintained tomorrow also.
Technical security includes the security provided by some programmes and software
like password.
4.11 Summary
• Data communication is the process of transferring messages electronically from
one point to another with sender, medium, receiver as the elements.
• There are two forms in which data can be transmitted like Analog Data transmission
in a continuous wave form and Digital Data Transmission with on and off electrical
states.
• Data transmission may occur in one of the three modes:-simplex mode, half-duplex
mode, full-duplex mode.
• Transmission Media cable types are:- Optical Fiber, Twisted Wire pair, Coaxial
Cable an wireless links are maintained by, Microwave system and Satellite
communication.

Notes • Three basic types of computer network are LAN, MAN, WAN.
• Two main communication channel configurations: Point-to-point and Multi-point.
• The different network models available are Mesh topology, Star topology, Ring
topology and Bus topology.
• The most important benefit of having networking in any organisation is to make the
back-up process easier, allowing simultaneous access to critical programs and data
and last, but not the least, streamlining personal communication with e-mail.
Check your progress

1. Which of the following network models is suited for networking in a building?
a. LAN b. WAN
c. MAN d. None
2. Data transfer rate for LAN is normally
a. 1 to 10 Mbps b. 10 to 20 Mbps
c. 1 to 2 Mbps d. 1 to 100 Mbps
Further Reading
1. Networks and Systems, Pragarti Prakashan.

Unit-5 : Internet
Notes
Structure
5.0 Introduction
5.1 Internet an Overview
5.2 History of World Wide Web
5.3 Impact of Internet on Society
5.4 Working of Internet
5.5 Internet Tools
5.6 Browsers
5.7 Cookies
5.8 Services Available on Interment
5.9 Search Engine
5.10 Internet Security
5.11 Ensuring Internet Security
5.12 Copyright
5.13 Internet Terminology
5.14 Summary
5.15 Answer to Check you progress
5.16 Further Reading
5.0 Introduction
The Internet, also known as the Net, means different things to different people.
Well, it is not something you can go and buy in a shop or even see in a picture. When
computer professionals represent the Internet in a diagramme, they just draw a cloud of
connecting computers- the closest they can get to an accurate picture.
The Internet is a massive collection of computer networks that connect millions

of computers, people software programmes, database and files which interact
continuously.
The work ‘Internet’ is derived form the words interconnection + networks = Internet.
Networks in different areas can be interconnected to allow computers from one area
to interact with computers in another area, This is called Wide Area Network or WAN.
The Internet is simply a grand extension of this idea, to produce the biggest network of
all – the computer equivalent of the worldwide telephone system.
The Internet didn’t exactly come by chance, neither there was any master plan
laid to start with not big organisations were working towards it The US Department
of Defence laid the foundation of the Internet roughly 30 years ago with a network
called ARPANET. But the general public didn’t use the Internet much until after the
development of the World Wide Web in the early 1990s. As recently as June 1993,
there were only 130 Web sites. Now there are millions.
5.1 Internet an Overview

Broadly defined the Internet is a worldwide network of computers communicating
via agreed upon protocols (rules for exchange of information). It provides access to the
Notes most diversified sources of information hosted by individuals and various organisations
world wide on a vast network of servers. Presently, the internet gives on to World
Wide Web or just web which interconnects thousands of servers created by various
organisations, commercial establishments, industrial units, academic establishments,
common or particular interest groups or even private individuals. The web pages
loaded on their servers provide various types of information, e.g., plain text, picture, and
animation, multimedia either free of cost or for a modest fee.
Besides, the web pages internet offer services like e-mail, conferencing, electronic
publications and other commercial facilities. It is a new mode to trade text or information
from one point on the globe to another fairly quickly, cheaply and easily. Though it is not
interactive by itself, but the amount of control the users have is due to the computers
themselves, which enable the users to send and receive information to the network.
In the early days of its evolution, the Internet was primarily used for research
purposes with global access due to its faster exchange of information, cost effective
and availability in digitised mode enabling information to be easily convered for other
use. Now researchers around the world are seeking the opportunities of communication
provided by the service to work together, exchange ideas and results, even perhaps
carry out joint experiments or simulations without needing to be in the same place.
In 1969, The U.S defence Department started a project to develop a network

that could withstand bombing. The motive behind that was to develop a very secure
network that survives and works even after nuclear attack. This project was named
ARPANET. Efforts were done and ten years of research resulted in Local Areas
Ethernet Networks. Workstations were developed to get connected to LAN. All these
networks and workstations were connected to ARPANET. Till next decade ARPANET
grew. Computers in ARPANET used certain rules to communication with each other.
This standard used by ARPANET was named National Control Protocol (NCP).
5.2 History of World Wide Web

With improvements in the computer technology, there arose a need for viewing
graphics on the Internet. The Internet up to this point, had been largely a text only system.
The graphics capabilities were implemented using the language called HTML, and a
mechanism was invented to allow users to view these HTML files in their graphic format.
With the Internet largely in place, all that was needed was to invent the transmission
mechanism. That mechanism was dubbed as the World Wide Web, or Web for short.
The World Wide Web allows users to locate and view over the Internet multimedia-
based documents (i.e., documents with text, graphics, animations, audios, and/or
videos) on almost any subject. Even though the Internet was developed more than three
decades ago, the introduction of the World Wide Web was a relatively recent event.
The World Wide Web came into being into 1991. It was developed by Tim Berners-
Lee and others at the European Laboratory for Particles Physics, also known as CERN.
The CERN Team created the protocol based on hypertext that makes it possible
to connect content on the Web with hyperlinks. Berners-Lee now directs the World
Wide Web Consortium (W3C), a group of industry and university representatives that
oversees the standards of Web technology.
5.3 Impact of Internet on Society

As discussed earlier, Internet is a great learning tool and has got various advantages
in the fields of education, information communication, etc., and therefore has mighty
positive impact on the present day society. It has some drawbacks also and can also
be misused. Speaking of its possible pitfalls, there are certain things that immediately Notes
strike ones mind. Mentioned below are some of its drawbacks:
• Internet –an upcoming medium of crime: Since Internet is a technology, which

works beyond the geographical boundaries; it has also become one of the tools in
the hand of people engaged into various criminal activities. Sometimes this can be
used by terrorist organisation for spreading their subversive messages.
• Information is Material: Nothing can be kept confidential on the Internet. Once the
information is placed, it can be accessed by anyone, and from anywhere.
• Inappropriate Material: When a powerful tool such as the Internet falls in the
hands of people having wrong intentions, they can use it for anti-social purposes
such as spreading hatred messages between religious communities or writings
things that are disrespectful towards a certain section of society.
• Junk Mails: Junk mails are becoming a great problem on the Internet. These are
the unwanted mails that crowd your mailbox. These mails may contain viruses that
can cause damage to your computer.
• Credit Card Fraud: Individual gains access to your password and uses this
information to get at your credit information and then use the numbers to make
purchases. They find out the victim’s password to their online account. This is
usually done by hacking others password.
• Accessing Wrong Sites: Now a days, kids/teens are involved in watching porn sites,
which is bad for their mental health and can lead them to sexual conversation/acts.
5.4 Working of the Internet

It is quite evident that in a computer network, sharing of resources is allowed.
One such most shared resource is Information, which exists in computer in the form of
files. Thus one of they key functions in network of many computers is to move the files
between two specific computers. For such a communication, we require:
• The address of the destination
• A safe method of moving data in the form of electronic signals.
This is done by TCP/IP. For sending a large block of text/data to another machine,
TCP divides the data into little data packets. The role of IP here is not put destination
– address information on such packets. It is not necessary that all the packets follow
the same path from source to destination when sent on internet. They could be sent via
different paths to load balance various paths that exist on the network. This handled by
a special machine called “router”.
Gateway is another special hardware/software which allows different electronic

networks to talk to Internet which uses TCP/IP. AS an Internet user, one must know how
addresses are to be given.
Domain Names System (DNS)

To send anything any where the address of destination is most important. Unless
and until the address is correct and unique, the item will not reach there. Same is the
importance of address in virtually everything we do on the Internet. The IP in TCP/IP
is the mechanism for providing address for computers on the Internet. Any Internet
addresses have two forms:
Notes • Person understandable form in which address is expressed as words.
• Machine understandable form where address is expressed as numbers also

called IP addresses.
Word Address
A typical word address of person understandable address on the Internet is of
format username@host.subdomain.domain
It has many address parts – username, host, sub-domain and domain.
Host are, in general, machines at a particular location. These are the machines
whose resources are normally shared and can be utilised by many users on the
Internet. A user is given an account by the system administrator, which allows him to
use the resources of that machine. This machine is also known as the server.
The username is the name of your Internet account for logging into the host
machine. Logging in is the process of gaining access to your account on the server,
which is shared by several users. Hosts and local networks are clubbed together into
domains, which are, in turn, grouped into one or more larger domains. For an analogy,
domain can be considered as a apartment complex, a town, or even c country, a host
computer can be considered as an apartment building in a complex and your account is
just an apartment in it.
Domains are usually classified as non-geographic and geographic. Given below is a

list of various common domain names.
Geographic Domains
Country Domain Name
Australia .au
China .cn
India .in
Non-Geographic Domains
.com Commercial Organisations
.gob Parts of governments
.edu organisations of higher education
arpa com edu net ... uk fr
in-addr yahoo colorado berkeley xbalanque
www cs cs www
www
Figure 24: Domain Name System

IP Address Notes
IP Addresses are machine understandable addresses. The IP address of any host
computer is termed as host address. Significance of IP addresses of computers are
same as significance of telephone numbers to us.
An IP Address consists of four sets of numbers that are separated by dots. These
addresses are organised from left to right .The server of www. Go4i.com/classifiedads
has an IP address 167, 216. 192.97. A portion of number separated by the dot is known
as an Octet that is 8 bits of information. Just like our telephones number which includes
country code, city code exchange code and the user code, each octet has significance
in IP addresses. They consist of sequence of domain code and sub-domain code from
left to right.
Computer termed as servers contain the databases of Internet host addresses.

They translate each word address or person understandable addresses into numeric
equivalents and fetches the contents for you.
5.5 Internet Tools

An enormous amount of information and entertainment is available on the Internet.
To access this information, various Internet tools are provide. These tools include:
• Information Retrieval Tools (FTP and Gopher)
• Communication Tools (E-mail, telnet, Usenet)
• Multimedia information Tools (World Wide Web)
Information Retrieval Tools

FTP
There exists a standard tool which is used to transfer the copies of files on Internet.
This programme is called FTP, that is file transfer protocol. FTP can be used to copy
any file from one Internet host to other. But for such transfer, you need to have an
account of a remote host. The FTP programme will make a connection with the remote
host, which will allow you to browse the directories and specify files at the remote host
for transfer. But the contents of these files can not be viewed using FTP. To view these
files, you need first to transfer the copy of the files into your computer and then look at
it. This process is known as downloading.
Gopher
Gopher displays the set of resources on the Internet in the form of menus or lists of
items. You select the item of interest to see its content on the screen.
It is based on the concept of client and servers. Here the programmes that request
information for a user are the clients and servers are the programmes that provide the
information to clients. Gopher servers are scattered all over the Internet. These servers
wait for requests from Gopher client programmes. One can use the Gopher services to
create the menus. Each of these menu item can point to material on that Gopher server
or on any other Gopher servers.
All these Gopher servers with their respective information resources and all the
Internet resources we can access are collectively referred to as Gopher space.

Notes Communication Tools

Telnet
Telnet is a software tool that allows an Internet host computer to become a
terminal for another host on the Internet. FTP supports solely the transfer of files. But
Telnet allows you to become a user on a remote machine. You can run the computer
programmes at remote host, browse the database in that host memory or perform any
desired operation of the remote machine using this facility.
This means, Telenet provides a direct access to various services on Internet

especially those services which are not available on your host. Whenever, wherever
someone creates a useful service on his host, Telnet allows you to access this valuable
information resource. This tools is especially useful for accessing public services such
as library card catalogues, the databases available in the remote machine, etc.
Usenet
The Usenet can be considered as a global network of computers and people, which
has been intertwined with the Internet. But it does not operate like the Internet, Usenet
machines store the messages sent by users. Unlike mail form mailing lists, the news
articles do not automatically fill your electronic mailbox. To access the information on
Usenet, one needs a special type of programme called a newsreader.
The newsgroups are specially meant for Interaction of people who share some
common interests. People can post their own questions as well as the answers to the
questions of others, on the Usenet. While interacting with people on Internet, certain
mannerism should be adopted. These rules are called netiquette.
E-mail
E-mail is defined as ‘message transmitted electronically’. It has redefined the
ways of communication and helped in reaching to the people in an inexpensive and
speedy way. Many people in business, government and education now use e-mail more
frequently than telephone to communicate with their colleagues. It is the process of
sending messages electronically using your computer. E-mails can be sent anywhere in
the world using your computer and a modem.
Working of E-mail
An electronic mailing system works in much the same manner as the postal service.
In postal services the elements of operation are mail boxes, post offices and letters in
envelopes with addresses on them, trucks, letter boxes and lots of people. With e-mail,
you complete the same sort of operation sitting at your computer.
You will compose the message on your computer using your e-mail package you
will address your message by using simple commands from your e-mail screen. At the
receiving end, your message will be received by a mail server which is a computer set
aside for this function.
The mail server acts like a post office for the person receiving the mail, the message
is held there ready for delivery. But instead of the postman taking it to the house or
business location of that person, he or she will collect it the next time they turn on the
computer and look at their mailbox to see if there are any new messages.
Advantage and Disadvantage of E-mail

The advantages are:
• Delivery is fast, sometimes almost instantaneous.
• It is very cheap to use, costing only a few seconds of phone time and possibly

online charges, whether you are sending it overseas or down the road. Notes
• You can send copies to a group of people at the same time and as easily as
you can send to a single person.
• Pictures, documents and other files can be attached to messages and easily
downloaded and viewed at the other end.
The disadvantages are:
• E-mail does not always get through. The slightest error in the address is
enough to prevent a delivery and even when you do everything right, there
is always the chance of a failure in one of the links between you and your
recipient.
• Not everyone checks e-mail regularly, while an envelope on the mat by the front
door will get read.
• Junk, Spam mails, etc.
• Viruses through attachments in mail.
Structure of an E-mail
An mail message consists of a header, which contains information from whom the
message was sent, the recipient(s) and the route. This is followed by the body of the
message which contains whatever the sender wishes to convey. If the mail message
is a formal one, it is customary although not obligatory to finish with your name, return
address and other useful information as a signature.
Thus a piece of e-mail has three main parts:
• Header
• Body
• Signature
E-mail Header
The header is the electronic or the ‘front of the envelope’. To someone seeing it for
the first time, it can just like a bunch of letters, numbers and symbols. Basically, the
header exists for the computers not of the users.
The headers are prices of information that tell you and the e-mail system several
important things about a piece of e-mail. Each header has specific name and specific
purpose.
E-mail Address
As in normal mail, with e-mail too you need to know someone’s address before you
can send a message, Everyone on the net has a unique e-mail address, which is given
by the access provider at the time of opening an e-mail account. In order to receive or
send an e-mail, you need to have an e-mail address and you need to know the address
of the person to whom you wish to send a message.
Addresses are made up in a standard way using the following elements:
• User identification, e.g., Joel

Notes • The @ symbol to locate the person
• The domain name of the computer receiving your mail, e.g. hcl for Hindustan
Computer Ltd.
• The type of organisation e.g. edu.
• Finally, in to locate the address in India.
E-mail Body
The body is of course the substance or main part of the e-mail – what you send and
what you receive. This what you have to say. Here are few tips and tricks to make your
e-mails enjoyable to read and easy to understand.
• Get in the habit of pressing the Return key twice to insert a blank line between
paragraphs.
• Also hard to read is page after page of unbroken text in capital letters. DON’T
USE ALL CAPS.
• Smileys can be used to make the message interesting.
E-mail Signature
The signature, which is optional, isn’t a signed name but a sequence of lines, usually
giving some information about the person who sent the e-mail. It is made up of anything
the user wants to include. Usually a signature has the full name of the sender and some
information about how to contract the person by e-mail, phone or fax.
Multimedia Information Tools

World Wide Web
The World Wide Web offers a different competing approach. WWW does not require
you to learn a lot of commands. It is hypertext based information retrieval tool. You can
easily surf the web jumping from document to another using these hyper links. These
documents can contain text, images, sounds, graphics, animations and videos. This
information is present in the form of web pages.
The World Wide Web is described as a “wide-area hypermedia information initiative

which aims to give universal access to a large set of documents”. WWW provides users
on computer networks a consistent way to access a variety of media in a simplified
fashion. the Tools used to view the pages of WWW are known as browsers.
Feature of World Wide Web

1. The ability to easily deliver information in any format, to/from a wide range of
computing platforms.
2. Simplified access to the Internet.
3. The easy availability of extensive information on a wide range of topics.
4. The Web is interactive.
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

HTTP, an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, is the Internet protocol
responsible for transferring and displaying Web pages, The HTTP has been designed

especially for the WWW at CERN. AS HTTP is an Internet protocol for a specific Notes
application , it rides at the top of the stack of protocols that make up the Internet. When
HTTP link is traversed, the browser will connect to the appropriate machine, retrieve the
document and close the connection.
HTTP provides a way for Web clients and servers to communicate with one another,
primarily through the exchange of messages from clients and servers. The message
type for HTTP are classified in four parts:
Connection: This type of message occurs when a client tries to connect to a

specific web server and displays a connecting to HTTP server message. If the client
can’t make the connection, the attempt will usually time out and the browser displays a
connection timed out message.
Request: This is where the client asks for the web resource he looking for. This
includes the protocol to be used, the name of the object to be provided and information
about how the server should respond to the client.
Response: If the server can deliver the requested object, it responds in the manner
requested by the client to deliver the necessary data. If it can’t deliver, it sends an error
message explaining the reason for not delivering the message.
Close: After the information has been transferred in response to the request, the
connection between client and server will be closed.
For example, if a Web page contains objects such as movies, sound, or graphics, a
client makes a request for each objective. A web page containing a background sound
and three graphics thus requires five separate server request messages to retrieve the
four objects-the background sound and three graphics and the page in which these
objects are referenced. Due to the enormous growth of the number of HTTP users,
HTTP has had a tremendous impact on the Internet.
Universal Resource Locator (URL)

URL, an acronym for Universal Resource Locator, gives a web browser the location
and the means to get a resource on the Internet.
A web browser receives information from web servers and presents that information
to the end-user. To request information form the server, the browser uses a special
addressing scheme known as a Universal Resource Locator. URLs are used globally to
name and access all web resources.
Syntax:
protocol/data source:// domain name: port number/ <directory path>/ <object
name>#<spot>
Example
http:/www.yahoo.com/education/FIIThome.htm
5.6 Browsers
Web browser, or simply browser is a software application that resides on a
computer and is used to locate and display web pages. Browsers allow you to click on
hyperlinks to retrieve information via the web and offer additional features for navigating
and managing the web.

Notes A browser contains the basic software you need in order to find, retrieve, view and
send information over the Internet. This includes software that allows you to:
• Send and receive electronic mail (or e-mail) messages worldwide nearly
instantaneously.
• Read messages from newsgroups (or forums) about thousands of topics in

which users share information and opinions.
• Browse the World Wide Web (or Web), where you can find a rich variety of text,
graphics and interactive information.
The best-known and most frequently used browsers are Netscape (now owned by
AOL) and Internet Explorer owned by Microsoft. Both are graphical browsers, which
means that they can display graphics, as well as text, and can be used to view and
interact with many multimedia formats, including sound, video and other programmes.
Popular Web Browsers

Browsers come in all sorts of sizes and configurations. It is the utility programme
one uses to access content on the Internet. The unfortunate part is that each browser
has its own abilities and the major browsers are not entirely compatible in displaying
HTML.
Microsoft Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer is Microsoft’s Web browser, also known as ‘IE’. On August 23rd,
1995, Microsoft released their Windows 95 operating system, including a Web browser
called Internet Explorer. Different versions of IE are available for Window , Mac and
UNIX.
Internet Explorer makes it easier to get the most from the World Wide Web, whether
you are searching for new information or browsing your favourite Web sites. The
built-in IntelliSense technology can save your time, complete routine Web tasks, such
as automatically completing Web addresses and forms for you and automatically
detecting your network and connection status.
Netscape Navigator
Netscape Navigator is a Web browser for Windows, Macintosh and X Windows
form Netscape. Soon after its introduction in 1994 Navigator or simply Netscape, as it
is commonly called, quickly became the leading Web browser and pioneered the World
Wide Web in all its glory.
Opera
Opera is a Web browser for Windows, Linux, etc. Developed at Telenor (Norwegian
Telecom) in 1994 and commercialised by Opera in 1995, it is noted for its unique
features, including its fast rendering of web pages, built-in-zoom and ability to print just
a highlighted section of the page. Opera can display multiple windows with only one
instance of the programme running.
Basic Features of a Web Browser

• Should display the latest HTML tags included in HTML 4.0 specification.
• Should support multiple sessions.
• Should be empowered with easy Web navigation tools such as history, search,
home bookmark.

• Should connect with e-mail programme. Notes

• Should provide browser newsgroup access.
• Should support presentation of multimedia data.
5.7 Cookies
Cookie is a message given to a Web browser by a Web Server. The browser stores
the message in a text file called cookies text. The message is then sent back to the
server each time the browser requests a page from the server. Cookies are a very
useful tool in maintaining state variables on the Web.
Cookies can store database information, custom page settings, or just about
anything that would make a site individual and customisable. Cookies are beneficial
things as they store information for you. For example, when you log on to certain sites,
you must have noticed that when you return to that site again, you do not have to sign
on. That’s because your information like ID, password, login or registration information,
online ’shopping cart’ information, or user preferences are stored on your machine in a
cookie.
Cookies are usually set to expire after a pre-determined time and are usually saved
in memory until the browser software is closed down, at which time they may be saved
to disk if their ‘ expire time’ has not been reached.
Use of Cookies
An example of the use of cookies is when a browser stores your personal
information like user name and password. Common cookies which companies use to
find information are listed below:
Authentication
Cookies can be deployed to aid user authentication. For example, if a user visits,
a website and properly authenticates, a cookie can appear in the user’s hard drive, so
that he need not have to enter password again the next time he/she logs on.
Storing Client Information

Using cookies, a website can gain the following information about a client –operating
system and browser type, service provider, IP address and a history of sites.
Online Ordering System

An online ordering system could be developed using cookies that would remember
what a person wants to buy. In this way, if a person spends three hours ordering CDs at
a site and suddenly has to get off the net, he could quit the browser and return weeks
later and still have those items in his shopping basket.
Site Personalisation
This is one of the most beneficial uses. Suppose a person comes to the MSNBC
site but doesn’t want to see any sports news. Cookies allow people to selects this as an
option, from then onwards (until the cookie expires) they wouldn’t see sports news. This
is also useful for start pages.
How are Cookies Sent?

Cookies are sent from a server to the user’s browser in the HTTP response header.
The browser accepts the response from the page assigning the cookie and then
accepts the cookie. One the cookie has been accepted, the browser programme stores
the cookie information in the systems memory or files.
Notes Deleting Cookies

Cookies are saved to a simple text file that you can delete as you please whether
you are using Netscape or Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE). Deleting the cookies also
become important as there occupy a lot of space in the computer’s memory.
In order to do this properly, remember to close your browser first. This is because all
your cookies are held in memory until you close your browser. So, if you delete the file
with your browser open, it will make a new file when you close it, and your cookies will
be back.
5.8 Services Avilable on the Internet

The Internet offers a range of services, such as Archie, Ping or Gopher. Some of
these deal with transferring of information from one computer to another, other services
deal with finding information on the Internet, such as provided by Gopher. Some of the
services available on the Internet are discussed here.
Archie: In the early days of the Internet, people commonly used to transfer files
between computers or make documents and programmes available via FTP (File
Transfer Protocol) servers. These used a command language, unlike the graphical
format of Web browsers we are familiar with today.
One of the early problems we had was how to find programmes and information. At
that time, websites like yahoo and excite did not exist, and in fact, the WWW did not
exist either. So people used to index the files available with them and send the location
of those files to a common server that would index them. This was commonly done
overnight, so that new files would appear in this index the following morning. Only the
files names were indexed-not their contents. If you did not know the name of the file, it
was very difficult to find where on the Internet it might be located.
As people wrote programmes and made them available, Archie was quick way to
determine where the programme was available so you could download the programme
and use it. In the early days of the Internet, traffic costs were high, so people used
Archie to find the nearest location to them from where they could download the file, thus
avoiding costly traffic charges.
This index was called Archie. Today, the large search engines like yahoo and excite
hence replaced Archie, making it much easier to locate documents and programmes.
Gopher: It was not long before people using the Internet realised that finding
information on the Internet was a hard task. Gopher consisted of two parts, a Gopher
sever and a Gopher client.
A Gopher server was means of providing documents and programmes (in fact any
type of file) to users. Whereas Archie and FTP were purely command type interfaces
(where users had to type commands and the responses were given back as text).
Gopher implemented as means of displaying the information graphically for the client.
This made navigation of the documents available on Gopher servers much easier
Another advantage was the ability of Gopher servers to link to other Gopher servers.
If you could not find the information you were looking for on one Gopher server, you
could try the next one and so on till you located the desired information.
Gopher client is a programme that you run on your computer, or on your computer
account that controls the transfer of information from the Gopher server. With a
Gopher client you can retrieve a copy of the information available on a Gopher server.
Gopher is seldom used today, with the WWW and Web browsers offering much more Notes
functionality.
Whois: This is a service that provides information on Internet users, domain names
and organisations. Using it, you can find e-mail addresses, hot computer names and
domain names. Organisations and users register their names, host computers and
organisation domain names in a large registry database.
Wais: As people and organizations began to publish information on the Internet,

a method was required of indexing the contents of documents so that people could
search these indexes by keywords or other criteria. This led to the development of Wide
Area Information Servers (WAIS, pronounced ‘ways’).
There were four basic elements to WAIS, a client programme to perform searching,
the WAIS server, the indexed database, and a tool for indexing the documents in
the database. Internet search engines such as yahoo and excite have replaced the
functionality of WAIS.
5.9 Search Engine

A search engine or search tool is a computer programme that will search its
database to find items whose text contains all or at least one of the words given to
it. The home page for each search tool contains a dialogue box or frame where you
type in a keyword or phrase. Click on a button labeled Search or Submit and then the
Search begins. The search engine then examines a database for items that contains
the key word(s). The database consists of a large collection of information the search
programme has gathered from the WWW. The search engine then brings back the
search results- a list of hyperlinks and, in some cases, a summary of the information
found by clicking on each hyperlink. The search results are used in the same way as
any other web page.
Around the World Wide Web, people have amassed collections of websites to help
steer you in the right direction for your needs. Some of the Popular search engines are
goggle, altavista, excite, lycos, askjeeves, etc.
Figure 25: Search Engine

Notes Categories of Search Engines

Most people are primarily interested in tools for finding information on the World
Wide Web. Originally there were two kinds of search services on the Web: directories
and engines. Search engines should be your first choice when you know exactly what
you are looking for. They also cover a much larger part of the Web than the directories.
The different categories of search engines are:
Meta-Search Engine: In a meta-search engine, you submit keywords in its search

box, and it transmits your search simultaneously to several individual search engines
and their database of Web pages. Within a few seconds, you get back results from all
the search engines queried.
Examples of meta-search engines are Surf Wax (http://www.surfwax.copm /), qb

Search (http:www.qbsearch.com/), etc.
News Search Engines: News search engines are designed to search for the latest
news stores from hundreds of sources on the Web. This service provide exceptionally
good results for current event searching, because they scroll only news sites and revisit
these sites several times ADAY. Thus, the results are usually focused and timely. For
example, http:news.yahoo.com/, is a yahoo news search engine.
Kids Search Engine: These search engines are designed primarily to serve the
needs of children, either in focus, or filtering out sites that some parents and teachers
might find inappropriate for kids. These usually include sites that deal with violence,
hate speech, gambling and drug use. For example, Yaholigans is a unique service
designed for kids of ages 7 to 12. Sites are hand picked to be appropriate for children.
Multimedia Search Engines: Multimedia search engines will help you locate
sound, image or video files. For example, Alta Vista Photo Finder is an impressive
service that lets you find photos, images audio and video clips from all over the web
and search results feature thumbnails of images found.
Legal Search Engines: Legal search engines are designed to help you find legal
information and law-related Web sites. For example, Law Crawler is a Google-powered
search engine that returns information only from sites that have been identified as
dealing with legal issues.
5.10 Internet Security

The Internet can provide as many security risks as opportunities for accompany.
Security issues-hacking, viruses are frightening propositions for organisations with any
level of Internet information accessibility. Often companies address these issues by
forcing only on the hardware and software needed to keep hackers and virus outside
the Internet systems.
Password Cracking
Password cracking is just another method used to illegally access someone’s
computer without his her consent. To prevent password cracking, users should create
and use passwords of eight or more characters that combine alphanumeric elements,
apart frosm changing it frequently.
E-mail Spoofing
Spoofing result when a user receives e-mail that appears to have originated form
one person but is actually sent by another person. The objective of spoofing is to trick
the user into divulging information and replying with information that is confidential.

Electronic signature also known as digital signature helps to prevent spoofing. Notes
It ensures that messages have not been altered during transmission and that the
messages are from the person listed as the sender.
Virus Intrusion
People generally use the word Virus to refer to anything undesirable that can
happen to a computer, but this is not accurate. Viruses are short programmes that
are not engineered by accident. Someone somewhere has purposely designed them,
usually with a malicious intent. Virus exposure results from receiving e-mail, sending
documents over the network and even from installing software or copying files from
another hard disk.
Hacker Attacks
Hackers use a variety of tools to attack servers around the world. Most of these
are preventable by implementing sound security policies and appropriate software and
hardware. One of the most common tools used by hackers is the ‘Ping’ command. It
used very effectively to exploit the target computer. There are several hacking tools
available to the hackers that allow them to send their oversized or continuous packets
to the target computer. This results in a system interruption or even a system crash.
5.11 Ensuring Internet Security

Network security includes protecting the network from the internal and the external
access. Security to the network is provided by installing firewalls, encrypting and
decrypting the messages, installing Anti Virus software.
Firewall
To prevent unauthorised access to the computer network from outside one needs
a firewall between one’s network and the outside world. A firewall is a barrier to keep
destructive forces away from your computer. Its job is similar to a physical firewall that
keeps a fire from spreading from one area to the next.
A firewall consists of a software installed on the machine (computer) like proxy

server or some hardware components added to the machine, which are separated from
both the external network such as the Internet and the internal network by a collection
of software that forms the ‘bricks’ within the firewall.
Firewall is an extra layer of security placed between an internal network of Internet

and the Internet. It protects one network, the secure corporate network from another
network the supposedly insecure network. The secure network is referred to as the
trusted network. The objective of the firewall is to control access to the trusted network.
It allows only authorised data to enter the network.
Advantage of Using a Firewall: The level of security you establish will determine
how many of the security threats can be stopped by your firewall. The highest level
of security would be to simply block everything. Obviously that defeats the purpose of
having an Internet connection. But a common rule of thumb is to block everything, then
deciding what types of traffic you will allow.
One of the best things about a firewall from a security point of view is that it stops
any outsider from login onto a computer in your private network. While this is a big deal
for business, most home networks will probably not be threatened in this manner. Still,
putting a firewall in place provides some sort of security.

Notes Encryption and Decryption

A message is plain text (sometimes called clear text). The process of disguising a
message in such away as to hide its substance is encryption. An encrypted message is
a cipher text. The process of turning cipher text back into plain text is decryption.
When a message is encrypted, an encryption key is used. To decrypt the message,

the corresponding decryption key must be used. It is very important to properly restrict
access to the decryption key, because anyone who possesses it will be able to decrypt
all messages that were encrypted with the matching encryption key.
Anti-Virus
Anti Virus is a software utility which can search the hard disk for viruses and
remove, those are found. Most Anti Virus programmes include an auto-update feature
that enables the programme to download profiles of new viruses so that it can check for
the new viruses as soon as they are discovered.
Viruses checking programmes or Anti Viruses have normally in-built scanners, which
scan all files on your computer’s hard disk. These looks for changes and activity in
computers that are typical in case of virus attack. The most popular Anti Virus software
programmes available are Norton and McAfee Anti Virus Programmes.
5.10 Copyright
Copyright is a form of protection provided by the law to the authors of ‘original
works of authorship’, including literary, dramatic, musical, artistic and certain other
intellectual works, This protection is available to both published and unpublished works.
Copyright Act generally gives the owner of copyright the exclusive right to do and to
authorize others to do the following:
Figure 26: Subject to Copy Write
• Reproduce the work in copies.
• Prepare derivative works based upon the work.
• Distribute copies of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership
or by rental, lease or lending.
• Perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic and

choreographic works, pantomimes and motion pictures and other audiovisual Notes
works.
• Display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic
and choreographic works, pantomimes and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural
works, including the individual images of a motion picture of other audiovisual
work.
• In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of a

digital audio transmission.
It is illegal for anyone to violate any of the rights provided by the copyright law to the
owner of copyright. These rights, however, are not unlimited in scope; Copyright Act
establishes limitations on these rights. In some cases, these limitations are specified
exemptions from copyright liability. One major limitation is the doctrine of ‘fair use’. In
other instances, the limitation takes the form of a ‘compulsory license’ under which
certain limited uses of copyrighted works are permitted upon payment of specified
royalties and in compliance with the conditions laid down by the author of the copyright
work.
5.11 Internet Terminology

ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network): It is the precursor to
the Internet. Developed in the late 60s and early 70s by the US Department of Defense
as an experiment in WAN to connect together computers that were each running
different systems so that people at one location could use computing resources from
another location.
Browser: It is a client programme (software that enables you to surf the web and
access information on the Internet though the World Wide Web. Some examples of
browser are Netscape Navigator, Internet Explorer, etc.
Chat: The online version of having a conversation, only you can chat with many
others from all over the world at the same time.
DNS (Domain Name System): This System, which identifies each computer as
a network node on the Internet using an Internet protocol, is an address system to
translate from domain names to IP number and vice-versa.
Domain Name: Either in an e-mail address or a URL, this refers to the name of the
computer where the mail account or files is located.
E-commerce: The action of buying online or establishing an online store-front. Also,

using technology to speed up and make more efficient the transaction of commerce at
all stages of the process from production to delivery.
E-mail (Electronic Mail): This is an online communication between computer users

on the Internet. It is an economical, faster and more secure mode of communication
than traditional phone or mail services.
HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language): This is a primary language used to design
Web pages. It is a system of marking up or tagging, a document so that it can be
published in the World Wide Web.
HTTP (Hyper Text Transmission Protocol): It is a protocol that a web server and a
web browser use to communicate with each other.
Notes Hypermedia: Documents which combine hypertext links and multimedia elements
(such as images, videos and audio) on a Web page that links the user to another Web
page by clicking on the media.
Hypertext: It refers to the way of representing information in which text images

sound and actions are lined to the another document.
Internet: The name given to the collective electronic network of computers and
computer networks which are interconnected throughout the worlds –started with the
ARPANET at the U.S Department of Defense.
IP Address: This is the numeric address of a computer connected on the Internet,

which permits it to send and receive messages from other computers on the Internet.
ISP(Internet Service Provider): This is an organization that provides individuals

with a connection to the Internet and its services.
LAN (Local Area Network): This is a digital communication system capable of

interconnecting a large number of computers, terminals and other peripheral devices
within a limited geographical area, typically within 1 km.
Link: This is an action that leads you to go to the other page, when you click any
text or graphics on a webpage.
Multimedia: These are the documents, which contain text, sound, graphics and
video elements that are all capable of being displayed to the user.
Network: This is an interconnection of the computer system with data

communication devices for the purpose of exchanging data, information and hardware.
Packets: These are the small units of data that travel on the Internet containing
address information to facilitate information exchange between source and destination
(s) though the network.
Protocol: These are the set of defined rules, which determine the way information
exchange takes place between the two computers on the network.
Search Engine: It is a programme used for searching the information available

on the web. It matches the keyword or a phrase given for search through millions of
documents on the Internet.
Server: It is a computer that provides services and resources to the other computers
on the network.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): The network

protocols used in the network. TCP and IP are two of the most widely used protocols
used on Internet, and the whole protocol suite is named after them.
URL (Universal Resource Locator): An address of documents and other resources

on the Web. Usually starts with http://www followed by a ‘dot’ and then a domain name
and a path.
WAN (Wide Area Network): A digital communication system, which interconnects

different LAN or individual PC to exchange information and data beyond the
geographical boundaries, like nationwide or world wide, It makes the sue of the
transmission media like telephone lines, microwave and satellite links.
WWW (World Wide Web): It is an interlinked collection of hypertext and hypermedia Notes
documents residing on the Web Server. Web documents are marked for formatting and
linking with HTML and Web server uses HTTP to deliver the Web page.
5.14 Summary
• The Internet can be thought of as a huge repository of information on almost every
topic imaginable.
• Internet services can be done in two ways – Direct access, dial up.
• Transmission control protocol (TCP/IP) breaks and reassembles the packets,

whereas IP is responsible for ensuring the packets are sent to the right destinations.
• Domain name server gives each computer on the Internet an Internet address or
Domain name using letters and words instead of numbers.
• E-mail refers to exchanging messages or file electronically.
• Telnet is a software tool that allows an Internet host computer to become a terminal
for another host on the Internet.
• Search engines are programmes which accept string as input and will output all the
web pages whose pages contain related information the string.
• A firewall allows only specific kinds of messages from the Internet to flow in and out
of the Internet Network.
• Copyright protects original work of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form of
expression.
Check your progress

1. The host on computer finds another host by
a. Postal Address b. Electronic Address
c. IP Address d. None of the above.
2. The process of disguising a message to hide its substance is
a. Encryption b. Cryptography
c. E-mail Spoofing d. Cryptanalysis
Further Reading
1. Internet and Web Design : Macmillan India Ltd.

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Computers in Management 33

Unit-4: Data Communication and Networking

4.1 Data Communication

A modern communication system is first concerned with sorting, processing and

4.2 Types of Signals and Transmission

Figure 11 : Analog Data Transmission

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Figure 12 : Digital Data Transmission

4.3 Categorisation of Transmission

Half Duplex Transmission

Full Duplex Transmission

4.4 Transmission Media

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Figure 13: Coaxial Cable

(c) These fibres are light in weight and easily twistable.

(d) Less expensive, since as glass is cheaper than copper.

(e) Optical fibres can tolerate high temperatures. Notes

Figure14 : Optical Fibre Cable

Figure 15 : Twisted Pair

Microwave transmission is speedy, cost-effective and easy to implement medium for

Figure 16: Microwave Stations

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Notes Satellite communication

Satellite communication have several unique properties like broadcast property,

Figure 17 : Satellite Communication

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LAN is a transmission system which allows a variety and number of computing

Characteristics of a Local Area Network

2. Low cost is also an important characteristic of LAN. It is a cheap way of

3. Resource sharing is the greatest advantage of LAN, which facilitates a sslarge

Figure 18: LAN, WAN and MAN

4.6 Networks Strategy

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Notes Point-to-point Strategy

Figure 19: Point to Point Transmission

Multi-point or Multi-drop Strategy

4.7 Network Topology

Figure 20: Mesh Topology

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Star Topology Notes

Figure 21 : Star Topology

Figure 22: Ring Topology

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Notes Bus Topology

Figure 23: Bus Topology

4.8 Lan Types

4.9 Future of Communication and Networking

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• Networking technology is growing more sophisticated, and transmission speeds Notes

• All of the telecommunications industries- telephone companies, cable

4.10 Security and Privacy

A network is often shared by different people. Some people may be responsible,

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• Two main communication channel configurations: Point-to-point and Multi-point.

Check your progress

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The Internet is a massive collection of computer networks that connect millions

5.1 Internet an Overview

In 1969, The U.S defence Department started a project to develop a network

5.2 History of World Wide Web

5.3 Impact of Internet on Society

• Internet –an upcoming medium of crime: Since Internet is a technology, which

5.4 Working of the Internet