The Internet, sometimes called simply "the Net," is a worldwide system of computer networks -- a network of networks in which users at any one computer can, if they have permission, get information from any other computer (and sometimes talk directly to users at other computers). It was conceived by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) of the U.S. government in 1969 and was first known as the ARPANET. The original aim was to create a network that would allow users of a research computer at one university to "talk to" research computers at other universities. A side benefit of ARPANET design was that, because messages could be routed or rerouted in more than one direction, the network could continue to function even if parts of it were destroyed in the event of a military attack or another disaster.
Today, the Internet is a public, cooperative and self-sustaining facility accessible to hundreds of millions of people worldwide. It is used by many as the primary source of information consumption and fueled the creation and growth of its own social ecosystem through social media and content sharing. Furthermore, e-commerce, or online shopping, has become one of the largest uses of the Internet.
How the Internet works
Physically, the Internet uses a portion of the total resources of the currently existing public telecommunication networks. Technically, what distinguishes the Internet is its use of a set of protocols called Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). Two recent adaptations of Internet technology, the Intranet, and the extranet, also make use of the TCP/IP protocol.
The Internet can be seen as having two major components: network protocols and hardware. The protocols, such as the TCP/IP suite, present sets of rules that devices must follow in order to complete tasks. Without this common collection of rules, machines would not be able to communicate.
The protocols are also responsible for translating the alphabetic text of a message into electronic signals that can be transmitted over the Internet, and then back again into legible, alphabetic text.
Hardware, the second major component of the Internet, includes everything from the computer or smartphone that is used to access the Internet to the cables that carry information from one device to another. Additional types of hardware include satellites, radios, cell phone towers, routers, and servers.
These various types of hardware are the connections within the network. Devices such as computers, smartphones, and laptops are endpoints, or clients, while the machines that store the information are the servers. The transmission lines that exchange the data can either be wireless signals from satellites or 4G and cell phone towers, or physical lines, such as cables and fiber optics.
The process of transferring information from one device to another relies on packet switching. Each computer connected to the Internet is assigned a unique IP address that allows the device to be recognized. When one device attempts to send a message to another device, the data is sent over the Internet in the form of manageable packets. Each packet is assigned a port number that will connect it to its endpoint.
A packet that has both a unique IP address and port number can be translated from alphabetic text into electronic signals by traveling through the layers of the OSI model, from the top application layer to the bottom physical layer. The message will then be sent over the Internet, where it is received by the Internet service provider's (ISP) router. The router will examine the destination address assigned to each packet and determine where to send it.
Eventually, the packet reaches the client and travels in reverse from the bottom physical layer of the OSI model to the top application layer. During this process, the routing data -- the port number and IP address -- is stripped from the packet, thus allowing the data to be translated back into the alphabetic text and completing the transmission process.
Uses of the internet
In general, the Internet can be used to communicate across large or small distances, share information from any place in the world, and access information or answers to almost any question in moments.
Some specific examples of how the Internet is used include:
- Social media and content sharing;
- E-mail and other forms of communication, such as Internet Relay Chat (IRC), Internet telephony, instant messaging, video conferencing
- education and self-improvement through access to online degree programs, courses, and workshops and
- searching for jobs -- both the employer and applicant use the Internet to post open positions, apply for jobs and recruit individuals found on social networking sites like LinkedIn.
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