What is Internet?

History of Internet

In 1969, ARPAnet (Advanced Research Projects Administration network) a network was started by the Department of Defense (DOD) of United States of America. The network comprised of one computer in California and three in Utah, Later on, the military allowed universities to join the network in order to share the software and hardware resources. In 1986, the US National Science Foundation established NSFnet to make network connections available to more research institutions and to improve international network cooperation. In 1987, the students developed new software, which became popular as Internet. The impact of Internet is worldwide and has now emerged as the world’s largest computer network.

Telnet is an Internet utility that allows a computer to connect to another network and logon to the system and use various services. It is generally used to access databases and explore public access computer systems. Libraries frequently use Telnet.

Gopher is an Internet-based document retrieval system. It was developed at the University of Minnesota. The Internet offers a fascinating world called the Gopher Space in which approximately 3600 Gopher servers are connected Gopher is menu-driven application and is very simple to operate.

Use of Internet

Internet, the world’s largest network of computers, is today increasingly being used. The use of Internet is moving away from pure University network to network connection millions of computers, many of which belong to companies using Internet for commercial purposes. It is both entertaining and educational, for the use at home. It makes good business sense for companies. It can be used to exchange e-mails, participate in discussions through public news groups, and acquire new information that keeps one updated. Online shopping is another venture of Internet, where one can advertise and order products from the market. Organizations can use the Internet to link their offices and employees, turning the Internet into virtual private network. Business transactions are carried online by providing a link between the suppliers, customers of financial institutions.

The World Wide Web (WWW)

The Internet application that is currently drawing the most attention is the World Wide Web (WWW). WWW is a series of servers that are interconnected through hypertext. Hypertext is a method of presenting information in which certain text is highlighted. When the text is selected, it displays more information on the particular topic. These highlighted items are called hyperlinks and allows the users to navigate from one document to another that may be located on different servers.

The user can use the browser software like Internet Explorer, Mosaic, Mozilla Firefox, or Netscape navigator to navigate the Web. A browser is software that helps the user to navigate the WWW. The Web is a graphic medium with most Web pages having images. The term home page commonly refers to the beginning page of any organization or information source. The home page can have links that takes the user to further levels of information within the same topic, or there can be links to other home pages.

Advantages of WWW

The advantages of WWW can be listed as follows: -

       ● A link in a web document can be used to open other documents.

       ● Web pages can contain picture, button and even links to sound files, along with

           text, thus allowing multimedia applications. 

       ● Sophisticated Web documents allow the user to interact with the applications

           through dialog boxes and forms. 

Search Engine

A search engine is a database software, usually fronted by a Web site for searching the Internet, the Web or any computer domin. Google is the most popular search engines in the world. Most search engines prompt you to input keywords or words related in some way to the topic about which you are seeking some information. When you enter a keyword, the search engine examines its database and presents to you a list of Web sites that match your search criteria.