| The Internet is a global network
of computers, including both large industrial-strength servers
and the personal computers in homes and businesses, all chained
together (with network cables or phone lines), and which all
speak a common "language". Examples of these computers
are WebCom's servers, the computers at your Internet Service
Provider (the company you dial-in to in order to access the
Internet, referred to also as your "ISP"), servers
at University campuses, and your personal computer when you
are connected to the Internet. Because there is a common "language"
(also referred to as a "protocol") among all these
computers, information and files can be transmitted between
them, and they understand one another.
For instance, when you send an email message from your account
at your ISP, the message does not go directly from one machine
to another (this would require that every computer on the
Internet be physically connected to every other computer,
which would be impossible to setup!), but rather it hops from
machine to machine along the chain. Each machine looks at
the destination address in the message, which must be written
in accordance with the standard protocol, and passes the message
along in the right direction. This happens many times before
the message finally reaches its destination.
The Internet is seen as a global repository of "information".
This information can be in many forms: text, pictures, audio
clips, Web pages, software, etc. All these things have one
essential thing in common: they are all kept as files on a
server somewhere. When you access these files with your personal
computer, the same hopping procedure happens as illustrated
above. Your request for a particular "document"
is bounced from your computer to the one containing the file.
The document, then, is sent back along the chain to your PC,
and you then have the info you requested.
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