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TCP for the Uninitiated - Part I (Introduction and Background)
By: Erik Iverson
http://www.dragonmount.net
View the entire tutorial as one page.
Introduction
The number of users on the Internet has grown exponentially since its
inception. The Internet as we know it today had a rather humble beginning.
It was an experimental network invented by the Department Of Defense, and
more specifically, the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). At the
time, there were only four nodes (communication endpoints) connected to
the Internet (ARPANET). Although that sounds miniscule by today's
standards, it was an incredible accomplishment for the time. This all
happened in the late sixties and early seventies. Unfortunately, the way
that the ARPANET communicated was prone to crashing and therefore not very
reliable. In the mid seventies, Vinton Cerf and Robert Kahn suggested a
new set of protocols. This was the birth of TCP/IP and by the mid eighties
it was fairly standard. It is still the protocol of choice for the
Internet and networks worldwide.
Not amazingly, few understand even the most elementary of concepts of
how the Internet functions. Most believe it is just a combination of
Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, and Microsoft Outlook. By reading
this, you should gain an understanding of some common terms you hear when
discussing the Internet, the big picture of how the Internet works, and
even some details about how specific applications function over the
Internet. Lastly, and most importantly, I hope to show you how you can
start to learn things about computer networks and the Internet on your
own, and to provide you with links and programs that will help you in that
cause.
First, we should define the Internet. If you're reading this you
probably know what a computer network is. The Internet is the largest
computer network, composed of all the clients, servers, and routers that
communicate with each other across the globe.
You'll find that a lot of people confuse the terms Internet and World Wide
Web (WWW). The WWW, along with e-mail, are the two most popular services
the Internet offers to the common person. So when you hear "I am on
the Internet", the large majority of people are referring to the WWW.
We shall see that there are many more parts to the Internet than the WWW
and e-mail; they are just the ones that get all the glory in pop culture.
The reason for this is ease of use. These services offer a familiar and
easy to learn point and click interface which the common person is able to
grasp.
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