Web Browsing and Communication

• Information Networks
• LAN
• WAN
• Client/Server
• workgroup computing
• Internet
• World Wide Web (WWW )
• Internet Addressing
• Internet Architecture
– The Telephone Network in computing
• PSTN
• ISDN
• ADSL
• Data transfer rates
 LAN (local Area Network)
• A LAN is a system whereby individual PCs are
connected together within a company or
organization.
– ten people are working together within an office
– can have a single printer and all ten people can
print to it.
 WAN(Wide Area Network)
• A WAN as the name implies allows you to
connect to other computers over a wider area
(i.e. the whole world).
 Client/Server
• This term relates to the type of
network where resources are
kept centrally on the server and
used locally by the client.

• The server tends to be a very

powerful PC (or group of PCs),
while each client workstation,
which the users have, is less
powerful.
 Workgroup Computing
• Groups of people connected via a computer
network can share their resources with each
other:
– Information on their hard
– Printers
– Modems
– Scanners
• The workgroup can simply consist of a few
computers at a single location physically
connected to each other via a network cable, or
it may be a workgroup of computers connected
globally via the Internet
 Advantages
• no reliance on a central computer, there is less
chance of major disruption if one computer
goes down for a while.

• Members of the workgroup can share data on a

temporary basis with colleagues, as required
 Disadvantages
• If you share files on your PC with many other
people, this can slow down the running of your
PC.
• The security of the computer network may not
be as good as the traditional client/server
network arrangement.
• You may give total access to the files on your
PC, which may then be damaged or even
deleted, by other members of the workgroup
 Internet
• collection of networks started by and for the US
military to enable them to 'survive' a nuclear
war.
• Later adopted by the educational system, and
now exploited by the commercial world.
• The Internet is a global network of
interconnected networks.

• The unique thing about the Internet is the sheer

amount of information which you can access
from it.
 Internet
• If you publish material on the Web, it can be
accessed by everyone on the Web
(providing they can find it.).
• As a marketing tool, this has interesting
possibilities.
• It is possible for a small company to sell
products and services worldwide, without the
need for a single sales-person.
• These days the problem is often not finding
information but rather dealing with the sheer
amount of information which is available.
Difference Between The World Wide Web (WWW)
and The Internet
• The World Wide Web (WWW) is just a small
part of the Internet as a whole.
• The Internet relates to all the hardware and
software involved, as well as the WWW, it
also includes FTP (File Transfer Protocol),
email and newsgroups.
• The WWW is basically the text and pictures
which you can view using your web browser,
such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, or
Netscape Navigator.
 Network

LAN WAN

Client/
server workgroup
 Internet Architecture
• Internet Service Provider (ISP)
– Tier-1
– Tier-2
• Access ISP: Provides connectivity to the
Internet
– Traditional telephone (dial up connection)
– Cable connections
– DSL
– Wireless

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 Figure 4.7 Internet Composition

0-13
 Internet Addressing
• IP address: pattern of 32 or 128 bits often
represented in dotted decimal notation
– 172.27.130.20
• Browser gets documents from Web server
identified by URLs

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 The Telephone Network in computing
• Communications between computers rely
heavily on the public telephone system.
• Newer telephone line technologies have
improved the standard of communications
between networks considerably.
• Technologies that are available:
– PSTN
– ISDN
– ADSL
PSTN or Public Switched Telephone Network
• refers to the originally telephone
network.
• From a communications perspective
it was slow and unreliable.
• The PSTN makes use of analogue
technology
 Modem
• In order to connect a computer to a telephone
network, you need a modem.
• This is an abbreviation for modulator-
demodulator.
• The function of the modem is to convert the
digital signals from the computer into an
analogue form suitable for transmission on the
PSTN.
ISDN or Integrated Services Digital Network

• is a technological development that is able to

make use of the existing PSTN cabling to
transmit digital signals.
• Technically ISDN is an international standard
for the transmission of data, voice and video or
normal voice or digital telephone lines.
• ISDN supports rates of up to 64Kbps.
• An ISDN connection consists of two lines
which can be used independently or together to
give a combined rate of 128Kbps.
• If you wish to connect a computer to an ISDN line you need a
special ISDN modem.
• This is a different type of modem to the one used with an
analogue line. Its purpose, however, is the same, to convert the
digital signals of the computer into a form suitable for
transmission on an ISDN line.

• The older telephone systems make use of electrical currents

transmitted through copper cabling.
As electric signals are subject to interference, they are not the
ideal method of transmitting data.
– fibre optic cable.
 ADSL or Asymmetric Digital
Subscriber Lines
• allow the transmission of high speed digital
data over ordinary telephone lines using a
modulation technology called DMT or
Discrete Multi Tone.
• Ideally, fibre-optic is the ideal medium for
high speed digital transmission.
• As the installation of fibre-optic is expensive,
ADSL provides solution until copper cable is
replaced by fibre-optic.
 Data transfer rates
• Each 1 or 0 that is transferred is referred to as
a bit.
• The speed of a data transfer is measured by the
number of bits that can be transferred each
second or bps (bits per second).
– called the baud rate or bandwidth.
– High speed lines have their speed measured in
kbps or Mbps.
– 1 kbps = 1 024 bps (roughly 1 000 bps)
– 1 Mbps = 1 024 kbps = 1 048 576 bps (roughly 1
000 000 bps)
 Seminars
• 6 lectures
• 3 Dec: seminars starting 3 lectures
• Each group has 10 students
• 180 students / 10 = 18 groups
• 18 groups /3 lectures = 6 groups per day
(presentation by one student from each group in less
than 10 minutes) in 1hour
• Report (2 to 3 pages) from each group
• Evaluation per group(same mark for all)
• 18 questions from seminars (answer 3 questions from
18)
• Topics : social, medical, technology, ….