The Internet Is a Worldwide Network of Connected Computers. – This Allows the Sharing of Electronic Information and Resources
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The Internet and World Wide Web • What is the Internet? – The Internet is a worldwide network of connected computers. – This allows the sharing of electronic information and resources. – The Internet is considered the LARGEST telecommunications system ever created. • A common set of rules, known as protocols, allow the transport and viewing of files and documents found on computers connected to the Internet. • The “invention” of the Internet – October, 1957 – the Soviet Union launches the world’s first man made satellite into orbit • It didn’t do a whole lot, but it was proof to America that while we had been using our resources to design nicer cars and better televisions, the Soviets had been focusing on more important things. • As a result, they had the advantage in the Cold War. • America began to think more seriously about science and technology – The federal government formed NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) as well as the Department of Defense’s ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency). • Purpose: Develop space-age technologies such as rockets, weapons and computers. • The birth of the ARPANET – What if a Soviet attack knocked out the U.S. telephone system? • Communication could be destroyed – M.I.T. scientist and ARPA employee, J.C.R. Licklider proposed a “galactic network” of computers that could talk to one another • This would enable our government leaders to communicate even if telephone system destroyed. • The “invention” of the Internet – Leonard Kleinrock of MIT and later UCLA developed the theory of packet switching, which was to form the basis of Internet connections. • Packaging data in specially formatted units (called packets) that are typically routed from source to destination using network switches and routers. • Each packet contains address information that identifies the sending computer and intended recipient. – Lawrence Roberts of MIT connected a Massachusetts computer with a California computer in 1965 over dial-up telephone lines. • It showed the feasibility of wide area networking, but also showed that the telephone line's circuit switching was inadequate. • Kleinrock's packet switching theory was confirmed. Roberts moved over to DARPA in 1966 and developed his plan for ARPANET. – The Internet, at that time known as ARPANET, was brought online in 1969. • The contract led by the renamed Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) initially connected four major computers at these universities. • UCLA • Stanford Research Institute • UCSB • University of Utah. – Charley Kline at UCLA sent the first packets on ARPANet as he tried to connect to Stanford Research Institute on Oct 29, 1969. • Each of the computers were about the size of a small house • The system crashed as he reached the G in LOGIN! – By the start of 1970, just four computers were connected to ARPAnet • By 1971, University of Hawaii added ALOHAnet • In ‘73 London’s University College and the Royal Radaar Establishment in Norway were added – With the increased packet-switched networks connected, it became harder to integrate into a single worldwide network – Vint Cerf (Stanford) and Bob Kahn (BBN)had begun to develop a solution to this process. • TCP/IP architecture was adopted by the Defense Department in 1980 replacing the earlier Network Control Protocol (NCP) and universally adopted by 1983. – TCP/IP • Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol • The protocols that are the basis for transmitting and routing data packets on the Internet. • The Internet Protocol is the one thing that all current Internet sites have in common. • It is “the handshake” that introduces different computers to each other in virtual space • This protocol changed the Internet into a worldwide network – In the 80’s researchers and scientists used the Internet to send files and data to each other • That changed in the 90’s when in 1991 Tim Berners-Lee, a computer programmer in Switzerland introduced the World Wide Web • This transformed the Internet from simply a way to send and receive files into a “web” of information that anyone with access could retrieve .