Chapter 2

Chapter 2 - Fundamentals of the World Wide Web and Internet

    Independence day had just past yesterday and it is the beginning of a new month, September. Time flies, the year is already coming to an end. Today is a really special day, the 1st of September. It is our beloved lecturer Ms.Wan's birthday! Not to mention it is also my father's birthday today too, what a coincidence. The start of a  new month, the start of a new chapter. Today Ms.Wan had started and as well as covered the whole of chapter 2 already, amazing. 

Evolution of the Internet

    What is the internet? The internet is a worldwide collection of networks that links millions of business, government agencies, educational institutions, and individuals. The internet is what make the world whole. It connects people from different places around the world. The internet originated as ARPANET in September 1969 and had only two main goals, which are : 

• To allow scientist at different physical locations to share information and work together.  

• To function if part of the network were disabled or destroyed by a disaster. 

    Years after ARPANET becomes functional, ARPANET has become known as the Internet in 1986. Internet is formed when NSF connects NSFnet to ARPANET. In 1995, NSFnet terminated it;s netword on the Internet and resumed status as a research network. Internet2 is then been founded in 1996. Today, more than 550 million hosts connects to the Internet. How astonishing, such a great achievement achieved by mankind. 

    Have you ever heard of an access provider? Well not me, I had no idea where this word had even originated from. But an access provider is a type of business that provides individuals and organizations access to the Internet free or for a fee, how intriguing. There are 3 types of service providers that we have learnt about today. Which are, ISP (Internet Service Provider), OSP (Online Service Provider, and WISP (Wireless Internet Service Provider). 

• Regional ISP's provides internet access only to a specific geographical area, but national ISP's on the other hand provides internet access in cities and towns nationwide. 

• As for OSP, it contains many members-only features. Popular OSP's include AOL (America Online) and MSN (Microsoft Network) 

• Wireless Internet Service Providers provides wireless internet access to computers and mobile devices, although it may require a wireless modem in order to perform so. 

The World Wide Web

    The World Wide Web, or in others words just known as Web, consists of a worldwide collection of electronic documents (web pages). A Website is a collection of related Webpages and associated items. However, a Web server is a computer that delivers requested Webpages to your computer. Web 2.0 refers to Web sites that provide a means for users to interact. 

    Every Webpage  has a unique address known as a URL or a Web address. A few terms of the internet or maybe tricks includes tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing allows you to open and view multiple Web pages in a single Web browser window. This'll help you organize your work and will make multitasking much more easier.

    Besides that, there are two different types of search tools which everyone that uses the Internet should be aware of, which are search engines and subject directories respectively. Search engines assists in finding information which are related to a specific topic whereas subject directories classifies Webpages in an organized set of categories. A search engine is helpful in locating items such as : 

• Images
• Videos
• Audio
• Publications 
• Maps 
• People or Business
• Blogs

    Did you know that some Web browsers contain an Instant Search box to eliminate the steps of displaying the search engine's Web page prior to entering the search text? These are some pretty interesting facts. There are up to thirteen types of Web sites, which includes :

    Multimedia refers to any applications that combines text with : 

• Graphics 
• Animation
• Audio
• Video
• Virtual Reality

Graphics is a digital representation of a non-text information. It's formats include BMP, GIF, JPEG, PNG, and TIFF. For example, a thumbnail is a small version of a larger graphic. 

Animation is the appearance of motion created by displaying a series of still images in sequence. Like a stop-motion, frame-by-frame kind of video. 

Audio inlcudes music, speech, or any other sound. An audio file is normally able to be compressed such that it would take up lesser space. 

Video consists of images displayed in motion.

Virtual reality is the use of computers to stimulate a real or imagined environment that appears as a three-dimensional space. 

    A plug-in is a program that extends the capability of Web browser. These also includes : 

Web publishing is the development and maintenance of Webpages.

These developments go from planning a Website to Maintaining It.

Firstly as always you'll have to plan what type of website would you want to publish. Next you should analyze and design it such that it would attract users and operate accordingly. Once that's done you could move forward and begin creating and deploying the Website. Lastly, to ensure this Website lasts you'll need to maintain it regularly. 

E-Commerce

    E-commerce is a business transaction that occurs over an electronic network. E-commerce includes Business-to-Business, Business-to-Consumer, and Consumer-to-Consumer.

    E-Retailing consists of 8 respective steps. Step 1, the customer displays the e-retailer's electronic storefront. Step 2, the customer collects purchases in an electronic shopping cart. Step 3, the customer enters payment information on a secure Website. The e-retailer the sends financial information to a bank. Step 4, the bank performs security checks and sends authorization back to the e-retailer. Step 5, the e-retailer's Web server sends confirmation to the customer, processes the order, and then sends it to the fulfillment center. Step 6, the fulfillment center packages the order, prepares it for shipment, and then sends a report to the server where records are updated. Step 7, while the order travels to the customer, shipping information is posted on the Web. And for the final step, step 8,  the order will be delivered to the customer, who may be required to sign a handheld computer or document to acknowledge the receipt. 

Other Internet Services

• E-mail is the transmission of messages and files via a computer network.
• An e-mail program allows you to create, send, receive, forward, store, print, and delete e-mail messages. 

An e-mail message is traveled from a sender to a receiver through a couple of easy steps. Firstly it after it has been instructed to send, it will contact a software on your service provider's outgoing mail server. After that, the software on that particular server will determine the best route for the data and then sends the message. When the recipient finally checks the e-mail message, the message transfers from the incoming mail servers to the recipient's computer. 

  

    A mailing list is a group of e-mail names and address given a single name. For instance, subscribing adds your email name and address whereas unsubscribing removes it. 

    Instant messaging (IM) is a real- time Internet communications service. On the other hand, a chat is a real-time typed conversation that takes place on a computer. A chat room instead is a location on an Internet server that permits users to chat with each other. 

    VoIP (Voice over IP) enables users to speak to other users over the Internet. In other words also know as Internet Telephony. 

    A newsgroup is an online area in which users have written discussion about a particular subject. A message board is a Web-based type of discussion group. 

    Lastly we have FTP  (File Transfer Protocol), FTP is an Internet standard that permits file uploading and downloading with other computers on the Internet. Surprisingly, many operating systems include FTP capabilities. Moreover, an FTP server is a computer that allows users to upload and/or download files using FTP.

Netiquette

    Netiquette is the code of acceptable Internet behavior. 

    The lesson had eventually came to an end, we've covered so much in one day. I'm really surprised. Although all these might be a little hard to be absorbed in my brain for a day but I believe I would be able to get in down eventually. There is still so much to learn! I would not give up that easily. 

    And to Ms.Wan, if you are still reading this blog on the 1st of September, and hopefully you are, I wish you a happy and cheerful life ahead! Live every moment, today and always!! Happy Birthday!!