The protocols used by the Internet are called IP and TCP and operate at different levels. IP, which simply means Internet Protocol, is the lower level protocol and allows raw communication between two nodes on the Internet. Internet nodes are identified by a numerical address known as an IP address. This address is written as four numbers in the range of 0 to 255, which makes 256 possibilities separated by periods; for example, 170.171.1.150. Each node on the Internet at a given time must have an IP address for other nodes to have access to it.
Because remembering the IP address of another computer would be difficult for users, each node is also given a unique domain name. A node cannot directly use a domain name to send data, but it can use it to acquire the IP address it needs. A special computer called a domain name server, or DNS, can return the IP address for a given domain name.
Because so many computers use the Internet now, most home users are not given a permanent IP address in the way that a Web site is. Instead, each time the computer is connected to the Internet, a computer at the user's ISP provides a temporary IP from a range of addresses assigned to that ISP.
IP is a low-level protocol that only provides what is known as a best effort delivery service, which means it performs no error checking, does not track the message, and doesn't ensure that it is delivered. Because this service is not good enough for most applications, a higher-level protocol, called TCP, or Transmission Control Protocol, is used alongside IP to provide reliable transmission from sender to receiver. TCP provides for message tracking, retransmitting, and error checking.
Tthe World Wide Web is the Internet's killer app, what makes the Internet as popular as it is. The Web is successful for several reasons. First, compared to other ways to share information electronically, the Web allows the publisher of new material to decide how the material is organized and displayed. Just as a phone book is organized differently and has a different style than a treatise on the mating habits of penguins, different subjects on the Web can be organized and displayed in a way most conducive to the material.
Second, Web publishing is cheap. Most ISP accounts provide some amount of Web space at no additional charge. This means that most Web users are potential Web publishers. Even a professional Web hosting contract can be had for well under $100 a month. Because Web publishing is so inexpensive compared to other ways of disseminating information, the total content of the Web grows quickly.
Third, the Web is easy to use. No special technical knowledge is needed to find information or browse someone's material. Even young children have no problem with the Web.
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1. The Internet and the World Wide Web as social phenomenons and the New Media
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