Lesson one

1.1 INTERNET AND WORLD WIDE WEB

Recall in chapter seven we had a greater view on networks and among the types of networks we looked at is the internet.

We saw that the internet is the biggest network since it covers the whole world. That is why some people call it the king of networks.

In this chapter, we are going to look at internet in a broad view and the relationship between internet and the World Wide Web (WWW).

1.2 INTERNET

This is a global connection of computers and other devices that are used in data transmission. Here computer networks are interconnected and use an internet protocol (TCP/IP) to serve the whole world.

1.3 History of internet

The use of internet was started in 1958 by the United States Department Of Defense (DOD) to enable them in their military operations after the world war2. This was after the Russian government launching an artificial earth satellite.

Leonard Kleinrock an American engineer and a computer scientist improved on the idea of packet switching (this is a method of communication whereby different data types are put into groups called packets and sent) that was started by Paul Baran in 1960s. He also played a very important role in the development of packet switched network called theAPARNET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network) with his workmate Lawrence Roberts in 1961.

Robert Kahn and Vinton Cerfboth American computer scientistsinventedthe internet protocol (IP)in 1974 which helps in packet network intercommunication. This protocol later became a transmission control protocol (TCP) and it is the one we use for internet communication and transmissions.

Tim Berners-Lee was born in London England but an American citizen and a computer scientist started an open source project called the web (in 1989) for hypertext document retrieval. The World Wide Web is composed of hypertext transfer protocol (http), URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) and hypertext markup language (html) protocol.

1.4 USES OF INTERNET

Internet can be used in different areas of the world for many reasons and some of them include

Research: We can improve on our understanding now and then by use of internet. This is because internet contains most of the learning resources we may require in school and outside the school. Hence internet can act as our outside teacher

Communication: the cheapest mean of communication is the internet. You can send messages and make calls at a very low cost or no cost.

Resource sharing: we can use the internet for sharing pictures, music and games with our friends.

Entertainment: Internet is another source of entertainment whereby people can use it to listen to music and watch videos on computers.

Electronic learning: By use of internet, you can make virtual classrooms and have online learning. Many Universities offer this service.

Electronic commerce: through use of internet and computers we can do online buying and selling of goods.

Electronic banking: the presence of internet has saved people from walking to banks to bank and send money. All this can be done from home on internet.

Investigations: internet can help the police and other security organs when carrying out investigations about crime suspects.

Advertisement: internet can be used as an advertisement mean since it’s exposed to many people.

Online news: it can be used to access electronic news papers 24 hours and this helps people to get updated on what is taking place in the world.

Room for discussions: internet helps people to have a wide range of solutions for their problems since it provides a wide room for discussions.

Creation of friendships: internet has enabled many people to get friend both in their home countries and outside countries. On addition to friendships, many people have got marriage partners via the internet.

Source of answers: internet is the source of answers to many of our frequent and daily questions. With internet, you will just need to start a browser and enter into the search engine. Enter a question and wait for the answers.

1.5 Disadvantages of using internet

Moral degradation: the existence of internet has played a big role in destroying the African values and morals. Some people upload pornographic pictures and videos and these videos are exposed to the young generation.

Work negligence: people spend most of their time on internet chatting and downloading files and dodge working.

Un employment: it has increased on unemployment. For example the discovery of online services like learning has made teachers lose their jobs.

Online cheating: Many people have lost their money because of the network pirates. They put messages like “you have won claim for your offer” and by the end of the process you may end up losing your money.

Viruses: internet is one of the sources of computer viruses. Thus using internet may lead to loss of some useful files in your computer.

High costs: internet services are costly and this has increased on the expenditure of people who use internet frequently.

Wrong information: not all the information on internet is right. This is due to the free and open rights on uploading and downloading of some files. One of the negative consequences of this is someone uploading whatever he or she thinks is right without consulting others.

Addiction to internet may lead someone to self-isolation from the friends