The Internet and the electronic mail

Introduction of the Internet

Internet, a system architecture that has revolutionized
communications and methods of commerce by allowing various
computer networks around the world to interconnect. Sometimes
referred to as a “network of networks,” the Internet emerged in the
United States in the 1970s but did not become visible to the general
public until the early 1990s. By 2020, approximately 4.5 billion
people, or more than half of the world’s population, were estimated
to have access to the Internet.

The Internet provides a capability so powerful and general that it can

be used for almost any purpose that depends on information, and it
is accessible by every individual who connects to one of its
constituent networks. It supports human communication via social
media, electronic mail (e-mail), “chat rooms,” newsgroups, and audio
and video transmission and allows people to work collaboratively at
many different locations. It supports access to digital information by
many applications, including the World Wide Web. The Internet has
proved to be a spawning ground for a large and growing number of
“e-businesses” that carry out most of their sales and services over
the Internet.
The Internet, which renders such a big service, does not possess a
single owner and a non-profitable organization called "The Internet
Society" is in charge of the ethics and principles related to the use of
the Internet and the protocols which maintain Internet operations.
What URL is?
In order to transfer this data between computers linked to the
Internet, the HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) protocol is used. On
top of that, the Internet offers a wealth of information. The main
source of this knowledge is the Internet (www). Consequently,
websites include data from the World Wide Web. As a result, various
resources on websites are identified by using the Uniform Resource
Locator (URL) protocol (URL).

World Wide Web Path where the

resource is located

http://www.edupub.gov.lk/e-books/english/ict.pdf

Hypertext Domain Name Resource

Transfer Protocol

In a Uniform Resource Locator, it is a must to have, from HTTP

protocol to Domain name.
Eg:-
http://www.moe.gov.lk - Ministry of Education
http://www.nie.lk - National Institute of Education
http://www.doenets.lk - Department of Examinations
http://www.edupub.gov.lk - Educational Publications Department

what is an IP address?
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are used to uniquely identify any
computer connected to the Internet. Each of the four numbers,
ranging from 0 to 255, that make up the IP address are separated by
a decimal point. Dotted Decimal Notation is the name for this.
e.g:-
172.64.85.42
193.213.78.154

An Internet Service Provider is responsible for allocating these IP

addresses (ISP). A business that offers Internet connectivity is known
as an Internet Service Provider (ISP). The ISP bills for the service in
exchange for this.

Domain name
Let's look at the domain name for the Uniform Resource Locator,
which is edupub.gov.lk. Gov and lk here refer for Sri Lanka and the
government, respectively. As a result, lk is the next top level domain
after gov.Thanks to its domain name, every website that exists on
the Internet has a distinct identity.

Country domains are used to represent the country related to the

domain.
Domain Meaning
in India
au Australia
jp Japan
uk United Kingdom
us United States

The term "Top Level Domain" refers to the domain that appears in
the right-hand corner of a domain name.
The names used to represent the fields which the domains belong to.
Domain Meaning
com Commercial
org Non profitable organizations
gov Public
edu Education
net Web

e.g:-
URL Domain Name Top Level
Domain
http://www.google.com google.com com
http://www.edupub.gov.lk edupub.gov.lk lk
http://www.nie.lk/pages/syllabus.asp nie.lk lk
http://www.unicode.org/consortium/ unicode.org org
consort.html

How the Internet works

Before inputting a URL into the browser to access a website, the
request must first be translated from the readable textual address
into an IP address that can be routed. This translation is made
possible via the Domain Name System (DNS).

The DNS server must first translate a request for access to a certain
website, such www.yahoo.com, into the correct IP address of
209.191.122.70. This IP address serves as the real connection to the
website. Due to how quickly this process takes place behind the
screen, the user is oblivious of it.
Despite the fact that it has no owner, the Internet is subject to
protocols. In the legal framework utilized in computer networks, a
protocol is seen. The protocols listed below are used on the Internet.
Protocol Usage
HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol HTML document exchange

TCP/IP - Transmission Control Controlling the exchange of IP

Protocol / Internet Protocol
FTP - File Transfer Protocol
SMTP - Simple Mail Transfer
Protocol
ICMP - Internet Control Message
Protocol
addresses
File exchange
Electronic mail exchange
Informing and controlling
messages when there are errors
The Internet is a client-server model-based wide area network
(WAN). Therefore, all computers connected to the Internet fall into
one of two categories: clients or servers.
The "server" is the computer that distributes the resources needed
by the client computer.
“Downloading” is the process of transferring data from server
computers to client computers.
"Uploading" is the process of transferring data from client computers
to server systems.
As a result, information is sent in both directions between the server
and client computers.

Internet server computers

 Web Server - Storing web pages and providing these to the
client computers
 Mail Server - Storing electronic mail and providing them to the
client computers
 DNS Server - translating URL to IP addresses

Services of the Internet

1 World Wide Web - WWW
2 File Transfer Protocol
3 Remote Access
4 File Sharing
5 Streaming of media
6 Search Engines
7 Electronic Mail - e mail
World Wide Web (WWW)
The father of the www is regarded as Sir Tim Berners-Lee. Through a
web browser, a person who utilizes www may view websites.
World Wide Web is an interconnected system of public webpages
accessible through the Internet. The Web is not the same as the
Internet: the Web is one of many applications built on top of the
Internet.
A browser is a software program used to locate and display
information on the Internet or an intranet. Browsers are most often
used to access Web pages. It is an application software.
Eg:-
 Google Chrome
 Internet Explorer.
 Mozilla Firefox.
 Safari.
 Opera.

File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

FTP means "File Transfer Protocol" and refers to a group of rules that
govern how computers transfer files from one system to another
over the internet. Businesses use FTP to send files between
computers, while websites use FTP for the uploading and
downloading of files from their website's servers.
Remote Access
Remote access is used to remotely manage and run computers
connected to the Internet.
Functions which can be performed through Remote Access after
accessing the Internet:
 Installing server computer software on client PCs
 Repairing issues with client machines.
Hacking is the practice of taking control of a computer without the
owner's knowledge in order to steal sensitive data and information.

File Sharing
Resource sharing is the fundamental goal of computer networking.
File sharing is a type of resource sharing. As a result, file sharing via
the Internet happens often.
Streaming of Media

Search Engines
Users on the Internet may simply locate any information thanks to
search engines.
You will find several websites with hyperlinks that contain the
information you want after entering the search terms in the search
engine's search field and pressing the search button.
Eg:-
 Google.
 Bing.
  Baidu.
 Yahoo!
 Ask.com.
 DuckDuckGo.

Domain Name Server

A website's domain name serves as its unique identification. Users
may relatively easily recall it because of this. On the other hand, a
machine on the Internet can only be individually identified by its IP
address. The domain name is changed into an IP address by the
domain name server.

Electronic Mail
The exchange of messages or data via electronic mail is possible
between two or more people. There are several groups that offer
free Internet e-mail services. Therefore, the price is solely for using
the Internet. This is the cheapest and quickest form of
communication available.

hashinipabodha@gmail.com

User Name Domain Name

Category of emails
 Inbox - To store mails received
 Drafts - To store mails that are composed to be sent but could
not be completed
  Sent - To store mails sent
 Trash/Deleted - To store mails for a certain period that are
deleted
 Spam/Junk - To store mails that are unwanted

Spam is a term used to describe unwanted emails that are put in a

different folder away from the Inbox.
Sending instant messages – IM
By using the chat feature, two people can communicate quickly over
the Internet in the form of short messages (chat).
e.g:-
 Whatsapp
 Viber
 Skype
 Line
 Talk
 Tango

Video conference
Through the use of audio and video transmission through computer
networks, video conferencing allows two or more people in separate
(remote) locations to converse with one another.
Requirements are as follows for a video conference
 Computers
 Web cam
 Internet connection
 Communication software (with audiovisual facilities)
Social Networks
The term social media refers to a computer-based technology that
facilitates the sharing of ideas, thoughts, and information through
virtual networks and communities. Social media is internet-based
and gives users quick electronic communication of content, such as
personal information, documents, videos, and photos.

Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is a general term for anything that involves
delivering hosted services over the internet. Cloud computing works
by enabling client devices to access data and cloud applications over
the internet from remote physical servers, databases and computers.
Advantages and Disadvantages of cloud computing
Advantages Disadvantages
Lower software cost Requires a constant Internet
connections
Improve performance Does not work well in low speed
Internet connections
Fewer maintenance issues
Instant software updates