Internet is an international network of networks of computers linking different types of users: Academic, Industries, Government, Health Institutions, military, individuals, etc, for the purpose of sharing information. As a communication network among computers, the internet allows you to locate and retrieve information on other computers linked to he internet as well as send messages electronically to and from other people elsewhere on the internet. Whenever Internet software application is used, the client software will either be on your personal computer, the computer you log onto for access to the internet (your host), or yet another computer to which you connect in other to use client software you may not have on your computer. As you navigate through the Internet, you will find yourself logged onto different host computers, sometimes gaining access to different client programs and also accessing different servers; it can be complicated. Fortunately, the purpose of advanced Internet software is to hide these complexities from users so as to achieve success.
The internet has six application protocols: Electronic mail (E-mail), World Wide Web (Hypertext Transfer Protocol or HTTP), Gopher, Telnet, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Each of these application protocol has special client software, and many web browsers, such as Netscape from communication and internet Explorer from Microsoft, which are capable of reading and displaying data from all the applications.
BENEFITS OF INTERNET APPLICATION
(a) Downloading of information
(b) Advertisement
(c) Accessing newspapers, magazines and academic journals
(d) On-line banking
(e) Accessing international media (CNN, BBC, VOA)
USES OF THE INTERNET
The various uses of the Internet are;
Electronic Mail (E-MAIL):E-mail is a method of sending messages back and forth among people with Internet addresses as well as on other networks with mail
addresses or connections to the Internet. The main common features are that the messages are converted to electrical signals for the purpose of transmission. It is primarily an alternative to the conventional postal service.
Electronic mail is one of the most useful features of the Internet and it is often the application with which people begin. As a means of sending messages back and forth among people with internet address as well as people on other network with mail connections to the internet, the E-mail support both person to person communications (that is delivered to the electronic address of the intended recipient) and one to many transmission in which information is automatically sent to a list of people.
Comparison between E-Mail and Postal Mail
E-mail Postal mail
(a) Faster Slow
(b) Efficient Inefficient
(c) Uses telephone line Message travels through road, air or sea
(d) Medium of message is electronic Medium of message is Paper
World Wide Web (WWW): World Wide Web is the most exciting new tool for the Internet. It is based on the technology called hypermedia. With hypermedia, information in one document can be linked to another; related information can consist of not only text but graphics, audio and video information as well. WWW is an ambitious, exciting and powerful attempt to link connected information wherever it may be located on the Internet, allowing the user to easily access and retrieve related files
TELNET: Telnet allows you to log on to another computer on the net. The computer onto which you are logging is known as remote computer. Once you are logged onto a remote computer, it becomes as if your keyboard was attached to that computer, which then serve as your host. You can do whatever the people are regularly attached to the computer can do. It is also possible that the computer you currently using to access the Internet that does not have the client software with which you want to work, you can use Telnet to log onto another computer on the internet that does not have the right tools.
File Transfer Protocol (FTP):File transfer protocol has the facilities that can be used for moving files from one computer to another. It is the common language for sharing data. Unlike Telnet, in which you must often know a specific password to successful log onto the remote computer, anonymous FTP has become a common place. With anonymous FTP, anyone on the Internet may transfer files fromand sometimes to a remote system using the word anonymous as the user identification.
USENET:
Usenet is a network of several thousands online bulletin organized into topic-oriented "news group". Within these news groups, people read and post related messages. There are already more than 10,000 news groups with participants ranging from computer enthusiasts to music composers. Usenet is one of the many networks connect to and accessible through the Internet.
0 Comments