Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash
Hi, and welcome to this article. Here, I will be explaining some of the key terms related with the internet.
Some of the points which I am going to highlight are:
- What is Internet & how does it work?
- What is HTTP & it’s significance?
- What are browsers & the mechanism behind them?
- What is Domain & DNS?
- What is Web Hosting & how can it be implemented?
So, let’s talk about the internet which in simple terms is also called “networks of networks”, because in the late 1960’s the company named ASPNET of the US Defence Department communicated for the first time using the similar technique which eventually became the modern web which we use today.
The modern web consist of an Internet Suite. Some of the most important protocols of this suite are TCP, UDP, and IP. The TCP/IP protocols which help to specify how the data is exchanged over the Internet by dictating how each data should be broken up into chunks, addressed to the destination, routed to the right destination, and finally, received by the recipient. Together the TCP/IP, control the two most important aspects of communication on the Internet. In Short, TCP and UDP specify how information travels, and IP decides where it needs to go.
So, let’s deep dive into TCP?
For any two computers to communicate using TCP, there needs to be a communication set between those two computers which is called a three-way-handshake which makes sure there is a reliable communication between server and the client which is guaranteed by this protocol.
TCP defines how machines on a network can create connections and use those connections to communicate with each other. It specifies how machines on a network can achieve reliable and error-checked data exchange.
The next one is UDP which is used for applications that require low-latency and are more tolerant of minor data loss. Some examples include online gaming, video streaming, and video chats.
If TCP and UDP determine how data is transferred on the Internet, the IP determines where it goes. IP dictates how to address and route each packet to ensure that it reaches the correct destination.
Therefore, these are the most important protocols in our network.
Now let’s talk about another protocol which is HTTP?
HTTP also known as Hypertext transfer protocol which is one of the another protocol that allows the fetching resources, such as HTML documents via the web. It is the foundation of any data exchange on the Web and also it is a client-server protocol, Your server will receive requests from the browser that follows HTTP. It then responds with an HTTP response that all browsers are able to parse.
HTTP is used to access the web whereas the TCP/IP is used to make a secure communication between two devices (i.e. client and server) in the network.
Some of the common verbs used in the HTTP are:
- GET — retrieves data, like a blog article.
- POST — creates data, like a new blog article.
- PUT — replaces data, like an existing blog article.
- DELETE — deletes data, like an existing blog article.
There is also new modern protocol which is called HTTPS where S stands for secure which is much safer in this modern world.
Now, the third point is browsers and its mechanisms:
A web browser takes you anywhere on the internet. It retrieves information from other parts of the web and displays it on your desktop or mobile device. The information is transferred using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol, which defines how text, images and video are transmitted on the web. This information needs to be shared and displayed in a consistent format (also meet web standards) so that people using any browser, anywhere in the world can see the information.
When the web browser fetches data from an internet connected server, it uses a piece of software called a rendering engine to translate that data into text and images. This data is written in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) and web browsers read this code to create what we see, hear and experience on the internet.
Now, The fourth topic DNS:
The Domain Name System (DNS) is the phonebook of the Internet. Humans access information online through domain names, like nytimes.com or espn.com. Web browsers interact through Internet Protocol (IP) addresses. DNS translates domain names to IP addresses so browsers can load Internet resources.
Each device connected to the Internet has a unique IP address which other machines use to find the device. DNS servers eliminates the need for humans to memorize IP addresses such as 192.168.1.1 (in IPv4), or more complex newer alphanumeric IP addresses such as 2400:cb00:2048:1::c629:d7a2 (in IPv6).
A domain name is essentially the web hosting equivalent of a postal or street address.
Finally let’s talk about, Web hosting is an online service that enables you to publish your website or web application on the Internet. When you sign up for a web hosting service, you basically rent some space on a physical server where you can store all the files and data necessary for your website to work properly rather than working in the local computer which won’t be accessible 24/7. Some of the popular web hosting platform can be Hostgator and Godaddy.
Thank for reading through this article.