Internet Protocols
Computers exchange information using what are called protocols, a sort of language for communications.
To illustrate what protocols do, image you make a phone call to France. If you don't speak French and no one there speaks your language, then even if the physical connection is very clear, you aren't going to communicate much.
To get two computers to talk, you have to establish a physical connection (which is relatively easy) and both computers have to support the same protocols.
A few years ago, getting two computers to support the same protocol was easy--as long as both computers were from the same manufacturer and ran the same software. In other words, it was
very hard.
All that changed with the Internet. Although
not new, the Internet burst upon the world stage in the late '90s, at least in part, because it used a set of protocols that no one company controlled and that nearly all computers supported. That meant it was relatively easy to get any computer to talk to any other.
Learning about all the Internet protocols can put a dedicated "propeller head" to sleep but here's a real quick intro:
- The heart of the Internet protocols is something called "TCP/IP." The "P"s in this name (and in most of the 3 & 4 letter acronyms you'll see) stands for... protocol. Something you already know about!
- The most popular application on the Internet is E-mail. It lets you send and receive messages (computer files really) without the other person being on-line at the same time. Thus it's kind of like voice mail for computer files. You'll see e-mail protocols like SMTP and POP (see more "P"s at the end standing for "protocol").
- The thing that's captured the world's attention though is called the World Wide Web, or "www." The web is really a set of protocols (like HTTP) that run on the Internet and allow you to "surf" from one computer to another, retrieving information. What makes the web so powerful is you can quickly link (surf) from one computer to another--anywhere in the world--to following topics that interest you.
If you'd like to learn more about any of the terms on this page, you might check out a marvelous site, www.whatis.com. This site has definitions for dozens of Internet and computer terms.