The Internet, Worldwide

web and Computer

Networks

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 What was the Internet then?
A network of networks, joining many government, university and private computers together and
providing an infrastructure for the use of E-mail, bulletin boards, file archives, hypertext documents,
databases and other computational resources

The vast collection of computer networks which form and act as a single huge network for transport of
data and messages across distances which can be anywhere from the same office to anywhere in the
world.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

What is the Internet now?
The Internet is a worldwide telecommunications system that
provides connectivity for millions of other, smaller networks;

therefore, the Internet is often referred to as a network of

networks.

 It allows computer users to communicate with each other

across distance and computer platforms.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 The Internet
The Internet is a worldwide collection of networks that links millions of businesses, government agencies,
educational institutions, and individuals

Page 74
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-1
 ORIGIN OF INTERNET
The Internet began in 1969 as the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research
Project Agency (ARPA) to provide immediate communication within the Department in
case of war.

Computers were then installed at U.S. universities with defense related projects. As
scholars began to go online, this network changed from military use to scientific use.

As ARPAnet grew, administration of the system became distributed to a number of

organizations, including the National Science Foundation (NSF).

This shift of responsibility began the transformation of the science oriented ARPAnet
into the commercially minded and funded Internet used by millions today
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 PURPOSE OF THE INTERNET

The Internet acts as a pipeline to transport electronic messages from one network to another
network.

At the heart of most networks is a server, a fast computer with large amounts of memory and
storage space.

The server controls the communication of information between the devices attached to a
network, such as computers, printers, or other servers.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 Evolution of the Internet
The Internet originated as ARPANET in September 1969 and had two main goals:

Allow scientists at
Function even if part of
different physical
the network were
locations to share
disabled or destroyed
information and work
by a disaster
together

Page 75
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 Evolution of the Internet
1986 NSF
connects
NSFnet to
1969 ARPANET and
ARPANET becomes 1996
becomes known as the Internet2 is
functional Internet founded

1984 1995 NSFNet Today More

ARPANET has terminates than 550
more than its network million hosts
1,000 on the connect to
individual Internet and the Internet
computers resumes
linked as status as
hosts research
network
Pages 75 - 76
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 Evolution of the Internet
Each organization is responsible only for maintaining its own network

◦ The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) oversees research

and sets guidelines and standards

Internet2 connects more than 200 universities and 115 companies via a high-speed private network
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 Evolution of the Internet
An IP address is a number that uniquely identifies each computer or device connected to the Internet

A domain name is the text version of an IP address

A DNS server translates the domain name into its associated IP address

Pages 79 – 80
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-4
 TOP LEVEL DOMAIN
NAME
Each part of a domain name contains certain information.

The first field is the host name, identifying a single computer

or organization.

The last field is the top-level domain, describing the type of

organization and occasionally country of origin associated with the
address.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 Generic top-level
domains

Page 80
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-5
 WHAT MAKES UP THE WORLD
WIDE WEB?
The Internet is often confused with the World Wide Web. The misperception is that
these two terms are synonymous.

The Internet is the collection of the many different systems and protocols.

The World Wide Web, developed in 1989, as one of those different protocols.
As the name implies, it allows resources to be linked with great ease in an
almost seamless fashion.

The World Wide Web contains a vast collection of linked multimedia pages that is
ever-changing
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 INTERNET ENABLERS
TCP/IP :In order for a computer to communicate on the Internet, a set of rules or protocols computers must
follow to exchange messages was developed. The two most important protocols allowing computers to
transmit data on the Internet are Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP).

Domain name system

An Internet address has four fields with numbers that are separated by periods or dots. This type of
address is known as an IP address. Rather than have the user remember long strings of numbers, the
Domain Name System (DNS) was developed to translate the numerical addresses into words. For
example, the address fcit.usf.edu is really 131.247.120.10.
URLs
Addresses for web sites are called URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). Most of them begin with http
(Hypertext Transfer Protocol), followed by a colon and two slashes. For example, the URL for KNUST
is https://www.knust.edu.gh/
.
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 The World Wide Web
The World Wide Web, or Web, consists of a worldwide collection of electronic documents (Web pages)

A Web site is a collection of related Web pages and associated items

A Web server is a computer that delivers requested Web pages to your computer

Pages 80 - 81
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 WEB 2.0
Web 2.0 describes the current state of the web, which has more user-generated content and usability for end-
users compared to its earlier incarnation, Web 1.0
Web 2.0 refers to Web sites that provide a means for users to interact

Web 2.0 does not refer to any specific technical upgrades to the internet; it refers to a shift in how the Internet
is used.

In the new age of the Internet, there is a higher level of information sharing and interconnectedness among
participants.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 Assignment

Discuss the Advantages and Disadvantages of

Web 2.0

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 The World Wide Web
A Web browser, or browser, allows users to access Web pages and Web 2.0
programs

Internet
Firefox Opera
Explorer

Google
Safari
Chrome

Page 81
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 WHY DO YOU NEED A
BROWSER?
Once you have an account with an Internet service provider, you can access the Web
through a browser, such as Safari or Microsoft Internet Explorer.

The browser is the application responsible for allowing a user's computer to read and
display web documents.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 The World Wide Web

Page 81
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-6
 The World Wide Web
• Some Web pages are
A home page is the first page that a Web site designed specifically for
displays microbrowsers

Web pages provide links to other related Web

pages

Discussion: What is the difference between

uploading and downloading

Pages 82 - 83
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-7
 The World Wide Web
A Web page has a unique address called a URL or Web address

Pages 82 – 83
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-8
 The World Wide Web
Tabbed browsing allows you to open and view multiple Web pages in a single Web
browser window

Page 84
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-9
 The World Wide Web
Search operators can help to refine your search

Page 87
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-13
 The World Wide Web
Information presented on the Web
must be evaluated for accuracy

No one oversees the content of

Web pages

Page 92
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-16
 The World Wide Web
Multimedia refers to any application that combines text with:

Graphics Animation Audio

Virtual
Video
Reality
Page 92
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 The World Wide Web
A graphic is a digital representation of non-text
information

Graphic formats include

BMP - Bitmap Image file,
 GIF - Graphics Interchange Format,
 JPEG - Joint Photographic Experts Group,
PNG - Portable Graphics Format, and TIFF - Tagged
Image File Format

Page 93
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-17
Group presentations

Presentations on the various file formats

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 The World Wide Web
A thumbnail is a small version of a
larger graphic

Page 94
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-19
 The World Wide Web
A plug-in is a program that extends the capability of a Web browser

Page 97
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-24
 The World Wide Web
There are different types of Web sites

Portal News Informational Business/Marketing

Blog Wiki Online Social Educational

Network
Pages 88 – 91
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-15
 The World Wide Web

Entertainment Advocacy Web

Application

Content Personal
Aggregator
Pages 91 – 92
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure 2-15
 Netiquette

Netiquette is the code of

acceptable Internet behaviour

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 COMPUTER
NETWORKS
• A network is basically a combination of hardware and software that send data
from one computer to another.

• It can also be defined as two or more computers that are connected to each
other to share and exchange data.

• The hardware consist of the physical components that carries data or signals
from one point to the other while the software are the instructions that make
the services expected from a network possible.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

APPLICATIONS OF COMPUTER
NETWORKS
1. Sharing of resources such as printers
2. Sharing of expensive software and database
3. Communication from one computer to another computer
4. Exchange of data and information among users via network
5. Sharing of information over geographically wide areas.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

Benefits of Computer Networks
1. Increased speed
2. Reduced cost
3. Improved security
4. Centralized software managements
5. Electronic mail
6. Flexible access

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

Disadvantages of Computer Networks

1. High cost of installation

2. Requires time for administration
3. Failure of server
4. Cable faults

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 COMPUTER
NETWORKS
• A computer network must meet a number of criteria, notable among these are
performance, security and reliability.

• Performance is normally measured in terms of transit time and response time.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

• The performance of a network can be affected by

• the number of people on the network at a time,
• the transmission medium,
• What else?
 COMPUTER NETWORKS

• Security basically deals with preventing unauthorized users to access,

update or damage data.
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

It also deals with the policies needed for implementation and

procedures needed for recovery from breaches and data loses.
COMPUTER NETWORKS
• Reliability is usually measured by the frequency at which failure
occurs, the time it takes the network to recover from a failure and
the network‘s robustness in an emergency or disaster.

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 TYPES OF COMPUTER
NETWORKS
 As mentioned earlier, a network consists of two or more devices
that have been connected through links to send and receive data.
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 A link is simply a communication pathway for transferring

data from one device to another.

 There are basically two types of connections namely point-to-

point and multipoint connections.
 TYPES OF COMPUTER
NETWORKS
• For a point-to-point connection, there is a dedicated link between
two devices and the entire capacity of the link is set aside for
transmission between these two devices.
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

• A multipoint connection on the other hand is one in which more

than two devices share a common link.
 NETWORK TOPOLOGY
• A network topology refers to the way in which the network devices are
connected to each other.

• When two or more devices are connected they form a link, and one or
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

more links form a topology.

• In a network the devices are normally referred to as nodes.

• There are basically four main types of networking and these are the mesh,
star, bus and ring.
 MESH
TOPOLOGY

• In a mesh topology each device has a dedicated point-to-point

link to all other devices in the network.
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

• In other words, there is a direct connection between every two

devices on the network.

• A typical mesh topology is as shown below:

 MESH TOPOLOGY

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 STAR TOPOLOGY
• In a star topology, each device has a dedicated point-to-point
link only to a hub; a central controller.

• In other words, there is no direct link between any two

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

devices.

• A typical star topology is as shown below:

 STAR TOPOLOGY

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

 BUS TOPOLOGY
• In a bus topology one long cable called the bus cable is used to
link all the devices in a link.
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

• The bus topology is a multipoint.

• Each device is connected to the bus cable by drop lines and

connectors (taps)
 BUS TOPOLOGY

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
CLASSIFICATION OF NETWORKS
BY THEIR GEOGRAPHY

NETWORKS

PAN LAN WAN MAN CAN

Reference: CN1047 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKINGCHAPTER 1BASIC CONCEPTS OF NETWORK

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
LOCAL AREA NETWORK (LAN)
LAN is a network which is designed to operate over a small physical area such as an office, factory or
a group of buildings.

LAN’s are easy to design and troubleshoot

Exchange of information and sharing of resources becomes easy because of LAN.

In LAN all machines are connected to a single cable or sometimes wireless.

Different types of topologies such as star, tree, bus, ring, etc can be used

 It is usually a privately owned network.

Reference: CN1047 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKINGCHAPTER 1BASIC CONCEPTS OF NETWORK

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Wide Area Network (WAN)
When network spans over a large distance or when the computers to be connected to each other
are at widely separated locations a local area network cannot be used.

A wide area network(WAN) is installed.

The communication between different users of WAN is established using leased telephone lines,
satellite links and similar channels.

It is cheaper and more efficient to use the phone network for the link.

Most WAN networks are used to transfer large blocks of data between its users.
Reference: CN1047 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKINGCHAPTER 1BASIC CONCEPTS OF NETWORK
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Personal Area network (PAN)
A personal area network is a computer network organized around an individual person.

It generally consists of a mobile computer, a cell phone or personal digital assistant. PAN
enables the communication among these devices.

It can also be used for communication among personal devices themselves for connecting to a
digital level network and internet.

The PANs can be constructed using wireless or cables.

Reference: CN1047 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKINGCHAPTER 1BASIC CONCEPTS OF NETWORK

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 CAMPUS AREA NETWORK (CAN)
The campus area network is made up of an interconnection of LAN with limited
geographical area.

Network equipment such as switches, routers and the transmission media i.e.
optical fibre etc are almost entirely owned by the campus owner.

Reference: CN1047 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKINGCHAPTER 1BASIC CONCEPTS OF NETWORK

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
METROPOLITAN AREA NETWORK
(MAN)
It is in between LAN & WAN technology that covers the entire city.

It uses similar technology as LAN.

It can be a single network such as cable TV network, or a measure of

connecting a number of LAN’s on a large network so that resources can be
shared LAN to LAN as well as device to device.

Reference: CN1047 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKINGCHAPTER 1BASIC CONCEPTS OF NETWORK

DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
 DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2
Figure taken from: CN1047 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKINGCHAPTER 1BASIC CONCEPTS OF NETWORK
DISTINGUISH BETWEEN LAN, MAN
AND WAN

Figure taken from: CN1047 INTRODUCTION TO COMPUTER NETWORKINGCHAPTER 1BASIC CONCEPTS OF NETWORK
DISCOVERING COMPUTERS 2022: CHAPTER 2