INTRODUCTION TO INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB

Data & Information

Data refers to the raw facts that are collected while information refers to processed data that
enables us to take decisions.

Ex. When result of a particular test is declared it contains data of all students, when you find the
marks you have scored you have the information that lets you know whether you have passed or
failed.

The word data refers to any information which is presented in a form that is agreed and accepted
upon by is creators and users.

Data Communication
Data Communication is a process of exchanging data or information
In case of computer networks this exchange is done between two devices over a transmission
medium.
This process involves a communication system which is made up of hardware and software. The
hardware part involves the sender and receiver devices and the intermediate devices through
which the data passes. The software part involves certain rules which specify what is to be
communicated, how it is to be communicated and when. It is also called as a Protocol.

Effectiveness of a data communications system

The effectiveness of a data communications system depends on four fundamental characteristics:
delivery, accuracy, timeliness, and jitter.
I. Delivery.
The system must deliver data to the correct destination. Data must be received by the intended
device or user and only by that device or user.
2 Accuracy.
The system must deliver the data accurately. Data that have been altered in transmission and left
uncorrected are unusable.
3. Timeliness
. The system must deliver data in a timely manner. Data delivered late are useless. In the case of
video and audio, timely delivery means delivering data as they are produced, in the same order
that they are produced, and without significant delay. This kind of delivery is called
real-time transmission.
4. Jitter
. Jitter refers to the variation in the packet arrival time.
It is the uneven delay in the delivery of audio or video packets. For example, let us assume that
video packets are sent every 30 ms.
If some of the packets arrive with 30-ms delay and others with 40-ms delay, an uneven quality in
the video is the result.
A data communications system has five components
I. Message
. The message is the information (data) to be communicated.
Popular forms of information include text, numbers, pictures, audio, and video.
2 Sender
. The sender is the device that sends the data message. It can be a
computer, workstation, telephone handset, video camera, and so on.
3. Receiver.
The receiver is the device that receives the message.
It can be a computer, workstation, telephone handset, television, and so on.
4. Transmission medium
. The transmission medium is the physical path by
which a message travels from sender to receiver. Some examples of
transmission media include twisted-pair wire, coaxial cable, fiber-optic cable,
and radio waves.
5. Protocol.
A protocol is a set of rules that govern data communications. It
represents an agreement between the communicating devices. Without a
protocol, two devices may be connected but not communicating, just as a
person speaking French cannot be understood by a person who speaks only
Japanese.
Elements of a Protocol
There are three key elements of a protocol:
A. Syntax
It means the structure or format of the data.
It is the arrangement of data in a particular order.
B. Semantics
It tells the meaning of each section of bits and indicates the interpretation of each section.
It also tells what action/decision is to be taken based on the interpretation.
C. Timing
It tells the sender about the readiness of the receiver to receive the data
It tells the sender at what rate the data should be sent to the receiver to avoid overwhelming the
receiver.

Computer Network
A network is a set of devices (often referred to as nodes) connected by communication links. A
node can be a computer, printer, or any other device capable of sending and/or receiving data
generated by other nodes on the network.

Classification of Computer Networks

1.Based on Transmission Mode
Transmission mode defines the direction of signal flow between two linked devices. There are three
types of transmission modes.
Simplex
In simplex mode, the communication is unidirectional. Among the stations only one can transmit and
the other can only receive.
Half-Duplex
In half-Duplex mode, the communication is bidirectional. In this both station can sent and receive but
not at the same time.
Full-Duplex
In Full-Duplex mode, both stations can transmit and receive simultaneously.

2. Based on Time in Transmission Type

Synchronous Transmission
In synchronous Transmission both the sender and the receiver use the same time cycle for the
transmission. We send bits one after another without start/stop bits or gaps. It is the responsibility of
the receiver to group the bits. Bit stream is delivered with a fixed delay and given error rate. Each bit
reaches the destination with the same time delay after leaving the source.
Asynchronous Transmission
In Asynchronous Transmission we send one start bit at the beginning and one stop bit at the end of
each byte. There may be a gap between each byte. Bit stream is divided into packets. Packets are
received with varying delays, so packets can arrive out of order. Some packets are not received
correctly.
3. Based on Authentication
Peer to Peer Connection
In peer-to-peer networks, there are no dedicated servers. All the computers are equal and,
therefore, are termed as peers. Normally, each computer functions as both a client and a server.
No one can control the other computers.
Server Based Connection
Most networks have a dedicated server. A dedicated server is a computer on a network which
functions as a server, and cannot be used as a client or a workstation. A dedicated server is
optimized to service requests from network clients. A server can control the clients for its
services.
4. Based on Geographical location
Local Area Networks (LAN)
LAN is a small high speed network. In LAN few numbers of systems are interconnected with
networking device to create network. As the distance increases between the nodes or system it
speed decreases. So it is limed to few meters only. Networks which cover close geographical
area. LAN used to link the devices in a single office, building or campus. It provides high
speeds over short distance. Systems are connecting directly to Network. The LAN is owned by
private people.
Wide Area Network (WAN)
WAN is collection of network (or LAN). This network speed is less than the LAN network
speed. WAN network connect systems indirectly. WAN spread over the world may be spread
over more than one city country or continent. Systems in this network are connected indirectly.
Generally WAN network are slower speed than LAN’s. The WAN network are owned or
operated by network providers. If it is owned by a single owner then it is called Enterprise
network. Often these types have combination of more than one topology.
MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
Metropolitan area network is an extension of local area network to spread over the city. It may
be a single network or a network in which more than one local area network canshare their
resources.
5. Based on Reliability
Reliability is maintained by authentication.
Connection-oriented
This type of communication establishes a session connection before data can be sent. This
method is often called a "reliable" network service. It can guarantee that data will arrive in
the same order.
Connection less
This type of communication does not require a session connection between sender and
receiver for data transfer. The sender simply starts sending packets to the destination. A
connectionless network provides minimal services.
Topology
Topology refers to physical layout including computers, cables, and other resources; it
determines how components communicate with each other.
Today’s network designs are based on three topologies:
Bus consists of series of computers connected along a single cable segment
Star connects computers via central connection point or hub
Ring connects computers to form a loop
All computers, regardless of topology, communicate by addressing data to one or more
computers and transmitting it across cable as electronic signals. Data is broken into packets and sent
as
electronic signals that travel on the cable. Only the computer to which the data is addressed accepts
it.

DEFINITION OF INTERNET:

Internet also called the ‘Net’ is a world-wide collection of interconnected computer networks
that links millions of business, government agencies, educational institutions and individuals.

History and Evolution of Internet

1958 – Pentagon’s Advance Research Project Agency (ARPA) was established by the U.S.
Department of Defence to make the U.S. leads in scientific and technological military operations.

1965 – ARPA sponsored a study on a “cooperative network of time-sharing computers”. Their

goal was to build a network that: (1) allow scientists at different physical locations to share
information and work together on military and scientific projects. (2) that would secure and
provide survival to the information and research from man-made disaster such as nuclear attack
or natural disaster.

1969 – ARPANET was fully functional, linking scientific and academic researches across United
States.

1986 – the National Science Foundation connected its huge network of five supercomputer
center to ARPANET and the NSFnet was born.

1991 – world wide web introduce to the public by CERN.

1994 – Yahoo!

1995 – NSFnet terminated its network on the Internet and resumed its status to research network.

1997 – Netflix

1998 – Google search engine was launched

2004 – Facebook - Mozilla Firefox Browser

2005 – Youtube.com launches

2006 – Twitter launches

2010 – Social media sites; Pinterest and Instagram launches.

Major Components of the Internet:

1. Servers

A server is a computer program that provides a service to another computer program and its user.

Types of servers

i)Application Server - a program in a computer that provides the business logic for an application
program.

ii)Web Server – a computer program that serves requested HTML pages or files.

iii) Proxy Server – is a software that acts as an intermediary between an endpoint device, such as
computer and another server from which a user is requesting.

iv)Mail Server – is an application that receives incoming e-mail from local users and remote
senders and forward outgoing e-mail for delivery.

v)File Server – is a computer responsible for central storage and management of data files so that
other computer on the same network can access them.

vi)Policy Server – is a security component of a policy –based network that provides

authorization services and facilitates tracking and control of files.

2. IP ADDRESS (Internet Protocol)

Is a numerical label assigned to each device. This provides identity to a networked device .
Example of an ip address 72.14.207.99 ( an IP Address usually consist of four groups of
numbers. The number in each group is between 0 and 255.) *the first portion of IP address –
NETWORK **the second portion of IP address – SPECIFIC DEVICE

3.BROWSER

Is an application program that provides a way to look information on the web. Examples of
browser are internet explorer, Google chrome, Mozilla etc

4.DNS (Domain Name System)

Is the phonebook of the internet. We access information online through domain names.
Examples of DNS: www.facebook.com ,www.teachingenglish.org.uk and www.academia.edu

TOP LEVEL DOMAINS Name Entity .com Commercial .org Organization .net Network .edu
Educational .gov National and State Government Agencies .ph Philippines .au Australia .vc
Vatican City .kr South Korea
5.ISP (Internet Service Provider)

Is an organization that provides services for accessing , using or participating in the internet.
Two types of ISP’s

•NATIONAL ISP – provides Internet access to a specific geographic areas.

•REGIONAL ISP – business that provides Internet access in cities and towns nationwide.

Importance of Internet

- Look for Information

- Send & Receives Electronic Mail

-Video teleconferencing (video call, video chat)

- Buy & Sell product

- Social Networking

-Watch & Posts Videos

- Games

-Learning- Take College Courses

-Financial Transactions

-Send (upload) or receive (down load) files between computers.

-Participate in discussion groups, such as mailing lists and newsgroups.

-Surfing, browsing, searching.

Packet switching

• Packet switching is one of the key concepts of the Internet.

• This involves the use of two separate concepts, packets and switching.

Packets

• A message is broken up into small pieces called packets, usually about 1 kb in size.
 • Each packet recieves a header containing the destination IP address, the sender’s IP
address, the total number of packets that make up a message, and the sequence number of
that packet.

Switching

• Since the packets are individually addressed, and numbered for sequence, they can be
sent and received in any order.

• This means that packets can be switched to different routes to get to the destinations,
according to network traffic.

Circuit Switching

Two network nodes (e.g. phones) establish a dedicated connection via one or more

switching stations.

Advantages

¤ reliable

¤ uninterruptible

¤ simple to understand

Disadvantages

¤ costly

¤ inflexible

¤ wasteful

¤ hard to expand

Packet Switching

Two network nodes (e.g. computers) communicate by breaking the message up into small
packets

¤ each packet sent separately

¤ with a serial number and a destination address.

¤ Routers forward packets toward destination

¤ table stored in router tells it which neighbor to send packet to, based on IP address of
destination

¤ Packets may be received at the destination in any order

¤ may get lost (and retransmitted)

¤ serial numbers used to put packets back into order at the destination

World Wide Web

 WWW is a way of accessing information over the medium of internet

 WWW is the acronym for the World Wide Web.

 It is also commonly known as ‘The Web’.

 The WWW is hypertext based information retrieval tool.

 One can easily surf the Web by jumping from one document to another using the links in those
documents.

 These documents can be in many formats, such as text, graphics, animation, sound and latest is
video.

 They may also be a combination of all these.

 All the information on Internet are presented to the user as a document or more popularly
known as Web Page.

 All these Web Pages are linked to each other or even to a section within a Web Page.

 And these links are known as Hyper Links.

 The tool used to view these Web Pages on Internet is known as Internet browser or simply
browser-It is a software program specifically developed to extract information on user request
from the Internet and present them as a Web Page to the viewer. There are several browsers
available in the market. The most popular are Internet Explorer from Microsoft and Netscape
from Netscape Inc.

 The process of using browser to view information on Internet is known as Browsing

Definition of basic www terms

Website
-Is a collection of webpages in a server that is accessible via internet using a web address called
uniform resource locator(url)

URL

-Is the address of a web page on the internet

Webpage

-Is an electronic document on the web

Webserver

-Is a computer that deliver requested pages to your computer

Web browser

-Is an application or software that allows users to access information on the web

Components of WWW

i)Structural components

-client/browser

-server

-caches

-internet

ii)Semantic components

-http

-html

-url

i)Structural components

Clients/Browsers

-Clients are those people who use internet which are also called end users

Servers

-A web server is a computer that delivers requested web pages to your computer
Caches

-A cache is the hardware of software component that stores data for future requests

Internet

-Is a global computer network providing access to a variety of information

ii)Semantic components

Hypertext transfer protocol(http)

-Is acommunication protocol used to transfer or convey information on www

Hypertext markup language(html)

-Is the standard markup language for creating web pages and web applications

URL

-Is the address of a web page on the internet

Hypertext Concept

-Is the text which contains links to other texts

Hypermedia Concept

Is a term used for hypertext which is not constrained to be text,it can include graphics,video and
sound