What is the Full Form of Internet?

In this modern world, we all use the web, and our lives will be utter incomplete without the internet, but does your mind ever ponder upon the internet and its history and work?

Well, the internet is a “network of networks” or electronic web and information superhighway that is used to interlink organizations and people, who have accessibility to this network.

It is a library of information from which you can access all topics you need to research or get information regarding.

Also Read: What is the Full Form of HTTP and HTTPS in Computer?

The interconnecting of two or more autonomous computers in ways that they can share information and resources to archive for better performance is known as a network, and when sharing of such information takes place on a global level is known as the Internet.

Also Read: What is URL in Computer?

In simple words, it is a constructive communication network that acts like a bridge connecting all small networks working throughout the world.

The full form of the internet is interconnected networks of all the web servers worldwide.

Also Read: What is the difference between Wifi and Lifi?

Connecting of these works under the WWW technology which construct the information systems i.e IS, that in turn helps to achieve automation and standardization.

Who invented the web? What is the full form of the internet? How does it work?

Curious? Read this article to aid your curiosity.

History and Origin of the Internet

The first appearance of the internet dates back to a few decades, mainly in the year the 1980s.

The World Wide Web was introduced in the year 1989, which was a huge step that revolutionized our whole world in terms of communication and information.

The www was invented by an English scientist named Tim Berners-Lee, he introduced a system through which one can share information via a network of computers.

The first website was released in the year 1990 named CERN (which is still in use)but since the concept of this was still very new there were hardly any users of it.

By the year 2000, there was a considerable rise in the users of the web in the US but hardly a reach in the rest part of the world.

It was in the year 2016 that the internet get the recognition it truly deserved, in this span of 15 years the world understood the importance of the net and hence started using it in their daily lives.

Characteristics of the Internet

Based on what we perceive of the internet and what it provides us here are some of the basic characteristics of the internet:

A complex network: The internet holds more than 150 million computers that are interconnected to it and are increasing day by day, thus the term complex comes forth for a “web of computers.”
Disorganized: It is a dynamic platform hence a disorganized network, so it tends to get confusing to access the internet.
A decentralized system: Amounts to millions of distinct networks and computers are connected globally.
Extensive usage: The daily usage of the internet amounts to millions of users regularly.
Worldwide scope: It is a source of getting information for millions of people for various reasons, viz., sharing of files, downloading music, surfing, etc.
Dynamic: In the passing of every second, some information is looked up and shared on the web, hence making it dynamic since it keeps changing every moment.

Collection of billion files: The internet is home to various information that it holds on every possible topic available with various formats.
Exponential growth: The growth of the internet is exponential with doubling every 18 months in size.

Components of Internet

There are various components to the computer, some are described below:

Client, Network, and Servers

Personal computers (client’s PC): the computers which take the request to access the information from a server are known as the client’s PC.

Server computers: these are the computers having a persistent internet connection that looks after the requests of many client’s PC.

Networks: networks in the term refers to the web of the various server computer and numerous client’s PC.

TCP/IP: the terms coins to transmission control protocol/ internet protocol, that is a rule of the protocol which allows communication or transfer of the data between computers.

That is connected to the internet nevertheless the location type or speed.

In simple words, a cannot be connected to the internet without the protocol.

Bandwidth: the speed of the internet connection is called bandwidth, this means and determines that the amount of data that is to be transferred between the client and the server computers.
World Wide Web: this is a network of systems that supports specially formatted (.htm or HTML) documents.

It is a special format that hyperlinks to access other documents and also supporting audio, graphics, and video files.

Web Browser: this is an application program used to access, present and navigate the information that is available on the WWW.

To navigate such information a URL(uniform resource locator) is needed to be entered for the search.

For example, http://tppl.org.in/

FTP: file transfer protocol is used to transfer files from one computer to another via the internet.
Chat: IRC (internet relay chat) is used to execute live discussion and chat.
Search engine: to search for information on WWW there is an application program known as a search engine, the most popular example being Google.

Architecture of Internet

A large variety of computers exist today both large and small frames, slow and fast

Including general and special purposes.

Systems like Unix and windows – the internet connects them all, though a computer is connected to the internet at two levels:

Hardware: this network includes the interface, modems, and cables to connect the computer physically to the internet.
Software: software, also known as protocols is needed to make communication between the computer making it understandable and meaningful.

For a computer network to work it is attached to a device called a modem (modulator-demodulator) that converts digital data coming from a computer into analog voice form.

Then this converted voice form is transmitted to the local IPS (internet service provider) through telephone links where a Modem converts the data back into digital form.

With the help of an ISP, this data can move all over the net to the desired location.

What is an ISP?

It is an agency, that enables users to access internet services, and is equipped with all the tools and technology to provide internet services.

To connect to the internet the computers are needed to be connected to the ISP, the connection can be made via a telephone line, leased line, or wireless/ radio link connection.

Though just having a physical connection to the internet won’t work they must communicate in a common language.

These are the rules that specify how the data will be broken into small packets, how the packets will be addressed, how the error will be corrected, and how the packets will be unpacked to retrieve the data.

How Does the Internet Work?

The internet can link one computer to any other computer that helps in the exchange of text, data, and program files between them.

The internet works on TCP/IP that is followed by packet routing networks, the data that is being transferred is called messages, these messages are broken into smaller forms called packets when being transferred.

Now, these packets and messages travel to their source using IP and TCP, then these are further transferred to their place with the given instruction of IP/TCP.

Internet Connectivity

The Internet is mainly used to share data or information with users and to receive that information straightforward one must be connected to the internet.

There are various types of internet broadband present today, let us take a look at the type of connectivity:

Dial-up connections: these types of connections are the most common types of connection category available.

They are also called intermittent connections, are considerably low in price are in demand, and are easy to install and maintain.

ISDN Connection: this is a type of digital connection having low to medium bandwidth. Phone and internet both can be combined through an ISDN connection simultaneously.
Direct connection: also called persistent connections they provide the highest bandwidth, using a continuous high-speed connection replacing modem or dialing process.

Cable connections: this internet connectivity provides an internet connection at a very low cost, working via fiber-optic cable or coaxial copper cable.
DSL connection: digital subscriber line is a new type of bandwidth that provides a connection through telephone networks.

Applications of Internet

There are various places where the internet is being used some of them are mentioned below:

Online communication: internet services are now used almost all over the for communicating with one another via email or other such platforms.
Software sharing: internet can help you access a large repository of software development tools and utilities.
Posting information of general interest: the internet is used to post information regarding all the possible information all over the world, more like a big bulletin board.
Customer support service: facilities like FTP, mail, and other such services of many companies are using the internet to help and provide support to their customer.

Internet Services

The Internet provides many services, some of which are discussed here below:

Communication services:
E-mail: electronic mail is one of the essential tools of the internet, this has made online communication essentially very easy and straightforward, being delivered throughout the world in no time.
Usenet: it is a type of network that provides discussion groups. There is a newsgroup from where the user can post articles.
Telnet: there is a command called telnet that connects the user and remote machine, with a secure connection the user can type and execute the wished command.
Information retrieval services:
File transfer protocol: FTP is a tool that allows the transfer of files from one computer to another.
Archives: it is one of the first search tools, it searches anonymous FTP servers and recognizes the files that are available on those servers from time to time.
Gopher: this is a menu-based interface tool that is used to retrieve information from the internet. It gives easy access to the information being searched on a special server called Gopher sites.
Web servers:
E-govt: e-government facilitates the operation of the government by using internet technologies.

Making the public aware all about the government and its services.

E-commerce: e-commerce means virtual shops from where you can order stuff online and have them delivered to your doorstep.
E-news: news is nowadays available to us in many forms via electronically the internet.

There are both pros and cons of everything that is present in this world, the same goes for the internet.

While it can be used for gaining knowledge and doing work, it can be misused too.

We have mentioned the advantages and disadvantages of using the internet below.

Advantages of the Internet

Employment opportunities: since the internet came into existence there are various job opportunities available along with it working for the internet industry or getting a job via internet job posting sites.
Increased reachability: with the internet being introduced the world became smaller and easy to access.
E-business: today internet is widely used for business purposes, be it selling or purchasing almost every business has a website on the net representing them.
All-time availability: the information is available on the internet always and you can access it anytime.

Disadvantages of the Internet

Addiction: internet can be quite addictive and can lead to causing problems.

Loneliness: people who spend hours on the internet are likely to end up lonely and depressed.
Theft of personal details: there are high chances of your personal information being accessed illegally by fraudsters, one must always be careful while using the net.