The Internet

The Internet

1. a global network of interconnected computers that communicate freely and share and exchange information

   • binary code: information transformed into a series of digits 1 and 0 for storage and manipulation in computers
     • Difference engine- the first computer 1850s- way ahead of its time, punchcards w computer codes on it that they would feed in, but too expensive to produce, thousands of hand made parts- not cost effective
       • The very first "computing device" was a mechanical computer invented in the 1800's by Charles Babich; was written by programmers who wrote programs on punch cards that would be fed into the machine
     • Electromechanical Computers
       • the US Navy developed an electromechanical computer small enough to use aboard a submarine
         • WWII: Computers were being used in a more sophisticated way. First electronic, digital programmable computing device- Colossus; used to break German code
           • computers were huge; took up the entire room
             • the internet was actually invented for military applications
               • protocols: common communication rules
                 • hosts- computers linking individual personal computer users to the internet
     • internet originally transmitted over phone lines
       • ppl could not be on the phone and on the internet at the same time
         • mainframe and minicomputers: employed terminals, and stations at which users worked were connected to larger, centralized machines
           • microcomputers/personal computers: tiny size, absence of heat, and low cost, affordable computer that opened the internet to anyone, anytime- became known as laptop computers, which then evolved to include tablet computers
     • WWW vs Internet
       • WWW: the means of accessing the internet
         • URL: uniform resource locator- a site's official address
           • domain names: the last part of a site's web address (.com, .org)
             • browsers: web files that take separate files and put them all together for viewing
               • search engines: software that allows users to navigate the internet simply by entering a search word and selecting a page from the results
                 • home page: the entryway to the site itself
                   • hyperlinks: links to other material within/outside of a site
       • massive network composed of all the hardware and data
   • ARPAnet
     • original version of the internet
       • very basic model, essentially turned information into packets which would be transmitted over a phone line and reassembled- similar to a fax machine

2. CERN

   • center for European Nuclear Research- 1989- made hyperlinking possible
     • 1993- first web browsers created

3. Modern Day internet Usage

   • the internet has become hugely essential
   • about 20 percent of ppl use it on only their smartphones, increasing number
   • 27 percent use for dating
   • the internet has changed the way we consume media
     • development of multimedia capacities: advanced sound and image applications
       • WANs- wide area networks: connect several LANs in different locations
         • IPS: Internet service providers companies that offer internet connections at monthly rates depending on the kind and amount of access needed
           • Voice over internet protocol: telephone whereby calls are transferred in digital packets over the internet rather than on circuit-switched telephone wires (voice e-mail)
   • operating system: the software that tells the computer how to work- people do not have to know advanced tech languages to work computers