A port is not a physical connection.

It’s a logical connection that is used by programs and

services to exchange information, it specifically determine which program or service on a
computer or server that is going to be used whether that is pulling up a web page using an FTP
,Service access and email and so on

And ports have a unique number that identifies them the number ranges from 0 to 65535 for
example some common Port or Port 80 And 443 which are used for web pages port number 21
.is used for FTP and port number 25 is used for email

A port number is always associated with an IP address and IP address is a numeric address
it's an identifier for a computer or device on a network every device has to have an IP
address for communication purposes and an IP address and a port number work together to
,exchange data on a network
so for example if you want to connect to a server over the Internet the IP address is used to
determine the geographical location of that server such as what continent country City and so
on and a port number determines which service or program on that server it wants to use
.whether that service or program is a web page, FTP service, email, and so on

?Now in simple terms what does this all mean

So as an example let's take a very common Port that just about everyone uses everyday and that
.is port number 80
.Port 80 is associated with HTTP which is web pages
Whenever you visit a web page from your computer you're using Port 80 whether you know it
.or not

So let's say you're sitting at your computer and you want to visit Google's web page. So you
.would open up a web browser and then you would type google.com in the address bar
.But before your computer can bring up Google's web page it has to do a couple of things first
it has to convert the domain name of google.com into Google's IP address, and in addition
since you're using a web browser which is using HTTP your computer is going to add Port 80
.to the IP address

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So now the IP address is going to be used to locate Google's web server then once the server is
found the IP address has done its job so now it's the port numbers turn and Google's web server
will see the incoming request with port number 80 and will forward that request to its built-in
.web service so you can finally retrieve Google's web page

There are 65,535 possible port numbers, although not all are in common use. Some of the most
commonly used ports, along with their associated networking protocol, are:

 Ports 20 and 21: File Transfer Protocol (FTP). FTP is for transferring files
between a client and a server.

 Port 22: Secure Shell (SSH). SSH is one of many tunneling protocols that create

secure network connections.

 Port 25: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP). SMTP is used for email.

 Port 53: Domain Name System (DNS). DNS is an essential process for the
modern Internet; it matches human-readable domain names to machine-readable
IP addresses, enabling users to load websites and applications without memorizing
a long list of IP addresses.

 Port 80: Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). HTTP is the protocol that makes
the World Wide Web possible.

 Port 123: Network Time Protocol (NTP). NTP allows computer clocks to sync
with each other, a process that is essential for encryption.

 Port 179: Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). BGP is essential for establishing

efficient routes between the large networks that make up the Internet (these large
networks are called autonomous systems). Autonomous systems use BGP to
broadcast which IP addresses they control.

 Port 443: HTTP Secure (HTTPS). HTTPS is the secure and encrypted version of
HTTP. All HTTPS web traffic goes to port 443. Network services that use HTTPS
for encryption, such as DNS over HTTPS, also connect at this port.

 Port 500: Internet Security Association and Key Management Protocol

(ISAKMP), which is part of the process of setting up secure IPsec connections.

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History of Network:

A network consists of two or more computers that are linked in order to share resources (such
as printers and CDs), exchange files, or allow electronic communications. The computers on
a network may be linked through cables, telephone lines, radio waves, satellites, or infrared
light beams.

The granddad of Internet was a network established by the US Department of Defense

(DOD). The work for establishing the network started in the early 1960s and DOD sponsored
major research work, which resulted in development on initial protocols, languages and
frameworks for network communication.

Before computers and Networks, The only way of Communication was Telegraph by sending
messages income codes like Morse, Cypher, or Creaser codes. Then soon it evolved into
Telecommunication using cables Which were invented by Alexander Graham Bell. And after
computers came into existence we needed a network to handle them. So let’s see the timeline
of the events.

“The Year might not be Accurate but are closely near to them”

1836–1840: These was the initial stages of communication where People thought there
should be a mechanism for communicating with each other Telegraph is the only method they
used to communicate in this period

1858–1866: Communication via Cables was developing in these years. Cables were set up
between towns and cities for communication. But this was limited to only a few places.

1875–1880: The Telephone device developed by Alexander Graham Bell was taken into
consideration and accepted as a device for communication. This was the initial step for
computer networks.

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1957: US forms an agency known as Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) By the
department of defense for developing in computer Technology as Russia or USSR launches
the First satellite into space Sputnik.

1962: ARPA was collaborating with other universities and  Foundations for developing this
sector which later became ARPANET
1962 - 1968: For networking, some proper mechanism needs to be developed. Packet
Switching was Developed these years. Today the internet runs on packets. The data which is
sent across devices are divided into packets and sent across the network. This was another
milestone for Computer Networking.
1969 - 1974: Electronic Mail or Email was invented by Ray Tomlinson for sending data
across the ARPANET. The first international Connection was Successful between the
University of London and the Royal Radar Establishment (Norway). Another Milestone was
developed this year which was TCP till date TCP is the most used Protocol in Networking.
TELNET protocol was also created during this time. 
1999 - 2003: Many other Popular protocols like WiFi and WPA were introduced this year.
Wireless technology was also increasing now. devices started connecting with each other
wirelessly.

References
1. Article: A History of Computer Networking - by Mahesh Gupta Published Jun 23,2021

2. Computer Network CH1 - by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology.

3. Introduction To Ports – buildwithpython/YouTube Channel

4. Network Ports Explained - PowerCert Animated Videos

5. Ports in networking - www.cloudflare.com

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