INTERNET1. IntroductionThe Internet is one of the most important
changes that has happened to the way we live and work in the last
twenty years.It began life about 40 years ago, in an American
military research agency called DA!A. Its inventors could never
have forseen how it would develop over time.The Internet now spans
the world, connecting billions of people in their everyday
lives.The ne"t few pages will e"plain what it is in more detail 2.
What is the Internet?The internet is made up of millions upon
millions of small computer networks all brought together to form
the vast #Inter$%etwork#. That word never caught on, so it was
shortened to the much easier$to$say #Internet#.A large part of the
Internet is the &'orld 'ide 'eb# (''').This is made up of web
sites that have one or more web pages. This is the part of the
Internet that you probably use most of the time.*ut the Internet
isn&t +ust web pages.It also includes other services such
as,Instant messaging-hat rooms.mail/ile transfers%ews groups!eer to
peer networks/orums %ote that no$one &owns& the Internet.
This is because each part of it is made up of individual networks
that someone has put together and then linked to the
Internet.0owever, each network has to obey Internet standards in
order to connect. /or e"ample IA%A is an international group
responsible for organising web addresses $ every web address has to
be uni1ue. 3. The World Wide Web (WWW)It is important to understand
that the Internet is not the same as the 'orld 'ide 'eb.The
Internet is to the 'orld'ide 'eb as .urope is to/rance. 2ne is the
container, theother is an item within thecontainer.The world wide
web (''' or+ust &the web&) is part of theInternet but is
much younger.The Internet is about 40 yearsold whilst the ''' is
merely30 years old.It was developed at -.%, theworld famous
undergroundphysics laboratory in4wit5erland, by Tim
*erners$6eearound 7880.The complete web is organisedas millions of
&web sites&. .achweb site is made up of one ormore &web
pages&. .ach page ismade up of te"t, images ormultimedia such
as video andsound.4o the 'orld 'ide 'eb is actually made up of
millions upon millions of individual web pages. 4. Web sites, pages
and browsers'eb sites are hosted on dedicatedcomputers known as
&web servers&.These machines will send a web pageto your
browser when you re1uest it.There are many different
browsersavailable, such as /irefo", Internet."plorer, 2pera, 4afari
and so on. *utthey all do the same +ob $ namely todisplay a web
page delivered from aweb server..ach web page has an address
(96)that starts with http,This is very important, as it is
whatbinds the 'orld 'ide 'eb together.The http is a
&protocol&, which is afancy word for a communication
standard. If two computers share the same &protocol&,
thenthey can share information. The http protocol is the one used
for the world wide web.The internet is more than +ust the 'orld
'ide 'eb, and those other parts use different protocols. /or
e"ample for e"changing files between internet computers use the
&ftp& protocol. 5. ses o! the Internet"esearch and
ho#ewor$The internet is a fantastic place to research information
for a pro+ect or piece of homework.It doesn&t matter what topic
you have been set, you can guarantee that you will find something
on the sub+ect. %o##unicationThe internet opens up many different
possible ways to communicate with others. 0ere are
some,.mail*logs4ocial networking sites e.g. /acebook, :yspace,
*ebo-hatrooms/orums;oip $ internet telephone &hopping'hatever
you want to buy, you can pretty much guarantee that you can find it
for sale somewhere on the internet./ind out more about ecommerce by
reading the ecommerce theory section 'eisure and (ntertain#entThere
are many different ways that you can choose to spend your time
online and amuse yourself. 0ere are a few,!laying online
games6istening to music (mp< download or live streaming)eading
online books and e$books'atching online videos e.g. =ouTube6ooking
for holidays or concert ticketseading about your hobbies>eeping
up$to$date with the news and sporting events'atching &catch
up& television from the main channels ()ploring the worldThe
internet has many services that help you e"plore the
world.4atellite and mapping applications e.g. ?oogle .arthTravel
sites providing details of other places6ive web cams showing other
parts of the worldAlmanacs and encyclopediasThere are always new
things turning up on the internet as entrepreneurs think of the
ne"t great service that everyone wants. *. +ene!its o! the
Internet,lwa-s a.ailableThe Internet is aways available for you to
use, 34 hours a day, @ days a week,
