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What
is the Internet? The Internet is a world network of computer
networks. The computer networks share the same protocols so that
they can communicate with one another, even though the hardware
may be different. This means that, although computers in Russia
and in Indonesia and in Rwanda and in Germany may have been made
by different manufacturers, they can still "talk" to
one another. [For you techies out there, the protocols are called
TCP/IP, which stands for Transmission Control Protocols/Internet
Protocols.] Each network runs certain software that provides (or
"serves") information.
Electronic mail (email), and instant chat, are highly used Internet
applications. Some of you may not be able to imagine what it was
like not to have these fast or instant connections with
your best friends!
The most
widely used part of the Internet is the World Wide Web. This online
course is, of course, coming to you via the Web. It is through
Web connections that most of us are accustomed to getting access
to documents, images, sound and video files, and much more!
The outstanding
feature of the Web is hypertext. Hypertext means that when you
click on something, you then connect with another page or Web
site. Hypertext is distinguished by words or phrases that are
a different color, or the text may be underlined, or your cursor's
pointer may turn into a hand when it rests on that piece of text
or an image.
In a variety
of ways, the Internet facilitates communication and sharing. There
are portions of the Internet devoted to interchange of information
and ideas (e.g., newsgroups; IRC, which stands for Internet Relay
Chat; countless bulletin boards and other places where you can
post your thoughts and opinions). As U.S. District Judge Steward
Dalzall noted, in a famous ruling, "...the Internet may fairly
be regarded as a never-ending worldwide conversation."
URLs
(Uniform Resource Locator) A URL is an exact address on the Internet.
Each Web page, each document, etc., has one. The address for the
Cabrillo College Library page given in the snapshot below, that's
entitled Searching the Internet, is http://libwww.cabrillo.edu/searchint.html
A URL has three
parts
| 1.
How to get there (the protocol) |
2.
Where to go (the domain) |
3.
What to get (the file name) |
http:// |
libwww.cabrillo.edu |
searchint.html |
1. http://
indicates that this page is being displayed running the hypertext
transfer protocol
2. libwww.cabrillo.edu
indicates that the Web site is on a library server at Cabrillo
College
3. searchint.html
is the name of this file, and it has been formatted using hypertext
markup language (html)
Domain names
are a part of every Web address. The domain name itself can convey
information about where the Web page comes from, and it may indicate
something about its quality. Examine the examples below:
| Web
address (URL) |
Top
level domain name |
Web
site |
| http://www.ucsc.edu |
.edu educational
institution |
University
of California at Santa Cruz |
| http://www.whitehouse.gov |
.gov government
agency |
The
White House |
| http://www.mbayaq.org |
.org organization |
Monterey
Bay Aquarium |
| http://www.mervyns.com |
.com commercial
firm |
Mervyn's
Department Stores |
Top level domain names
used in the United States:
| .com |
commercial
firms |
| .edu |
educational institutions |
| .gov |
government agencies |
| .int |
international
organizations |
| .mil |
U.S. military |
| .net |
computer networks |
| .org |
non-profit organizations |
New top level domain
names will soon be appearing in Web addresses. They include .info,
.biz, .name, and .museum
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