Notionet

What is the internet?

The easiest way to understand the internet, is to see it as a medium through which information travels. This medium can be wireless or wired. Using an illustration, we can have computer A and computer B. For the two computers to be connected, they need the internet. Now, the internet connection is what will be used to transfer files from A to B. One thing to note is that the computers are in two distanced places, could be different countries.

If it is wired internet, that means it is using a wire(cable). If it is wireless, then it is using signals(radio waves) to transmit data. For a wireless connection to be successful, two devices are needed. These devices should be connected to the computer.

1. Adapter.  It sends information in form of signals (it encodes)
2. Router.  It receives signals and turns them into information (it decodes)

Using an example of your TV it is even easier to understand the whole process. At your  home, you have a decoder. It could be from DSTV, Startimes or Zuku. this decoder receives  signals through the aerial (antennae)  from an encoder in the TV station then turns it to information which you can view through your TV as video or audio. It is the same case with the adapter, router and your computer.

The web

If the internet is a medium  by which information travels(network), this means that the information comes from computers or other devices. it also tells that a computer can be connected to the internet but not requesting or transferring any data. This computers that serve the internet with information or any other service are called web servers. Going back to our illustration of Computer A and B,  we can call computer A a server and B a client.

For A to work as a server, it needs three things;

1. 24/7 internet connectivity ( be accessible)
2. server  like Apache (a program installed to provide web services)
3. Database like MySQL  to store files

The web servers ensures the files transferred to your browser are in the right format.  It does this by using the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) to ensure that the files can be viewed through your browser. The browser also uses the same protocol to request files. The protocol is a procedure that determines how web pages are displayed in your computers’ browser.

The browser requests files and the web server transfers the files being requested by the browser. Then the browser displays the web pages  in form of text, video, images or audio. We can say that the browser  process the data into a readable format. From codes to text, images or sound.

What forms the web?

Now, in our first illustration we are using only two computers but there can be many computer As  serving computer B or many computer Bs receiving from computer A. By this we can understand how the World Wide Web is formed. A connection of online content. it is like a pool or cloud of interlinked information.

All these information is in form of signals or data in cables. To receive it you need to be connected to the internet, to request it , you need a web browser,  and to be served with it you need a web server. All this devices and programs are installed in the computer even data you access is stored somewhere in a computer, the internet is just a way of accessing the data while the protocols used by the server and the browser is to make sure you access is the best way possible.