Tag: definitions

In the world of computers and networks, a protocol is an agreed-upon set of rules or procedures for transferring data between different devices. When two computers use the same protocol to communicate, it means they’ve agreed to use the same structure for the data they are exchanging, and that they will follow the same steps when they are sending or receiving information.

Since all digital devices (computers, smartphones, tablets, routers, and so on) manipulate numbers (digits), any information they work with must be encoded as numbers. When is encoded on one computer, it must be decoded on the other to communicate. A protocol is essentially an agreed upon way to encode and decode data, and then also set of rules on how to communicate between digital devices. By using the same communication protocols, two very different computers (say, an iPhone and a Windows computer) can exchange data accurately, even if they each encode that data differently.

Think of the postal system: we address envelopes using a set of conventions that make it easier, even possible, to direct the envelope to the correct destination. For example, the address on the middle of the envelope is the destination address, and the address in the upper left (or back) of the envelope is the return address. If there’s an error in the destination address, the postal service uses the return address to send the envelope back to the sender, with “address unknown” stamped over the original destination. This is an example of how postal protocols make it possible to deliver mail and how to handle errors in addresses.

Computers use similar rules (where to put the address and return address, what format to use) and similar procedures (what to do when the address is incorrect, and how to notify the sender) but these networking protocols are much stricter and complex.

Some examples of common Internet Protocols include:

• TCP/IP
• HTTP
• HTTPS
• SMTP
• IMAP
• FTP

The Internet is a network of computer networks that uses the same computer networking language (or protocol), TCP/IP. Before the wide adoption of TCP/IP as a common language that most computer systems understood, many computer networks used proprietary protocols owned by specific corporations.

In practical terms, this meant that you could only communicate with the other people who used the same proprietary network. Whether this was IBM’s TokenRing or AppleShare at the office, or Compuserve at home, you could only reach, at most, other people or network resources (like printers, email servers, or shared databases) that used the same company’s networking products.

Since no one company owns the TCP/IP protocol, or any of the other protocols in the Internet protocol suite, any computer or software company can use these protocols to connect their devices, programs, or products to the rest of the world. You use some of these protocols every day, including HTTP (for browsing the World Wide Web) or SMTP, POP and IMAP (for sending and receiving email).

Notice that the World Wide Web — the web sites you visit using a browser on your computer, tablet or smartphone — is just one part of the Internet. Also, the Internet can operate over all kinds of connections, including wired (i.e., Cat 5 or fiber optic cable) or wireless (i.e., WiFi, Bluetooth, and cellular) networks.

Because of this flexibility and openness, the Internet has grown to become the largest shared network in history, much larger than the original (landline) telephone network or any private computer network.

More from Wikipedia

The Internet is the global system of interconnected computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. It is a network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies.

— Internet – Wikipedia