Easy! IT | IT Term | Internet
This article is a rough explanation of the Internet.
Everything might not be exactly correct in this article but it’s beneficial for beginners to understand IT terms. If you want to learn IT but don’t have any experience working in the IT industry, I hope it helps you understand IT. And I hope that this article motivates you to study IT more.
What is the Internet?
- You’re using this right now.
- This is a network that is connected worldwide.
- It’s a network of networks.
Simply put, the Internet is the name of the very large network you’re using right now to view this page, which is connected worldwide.
1. What is the Internet?
The name of the very large network connected worldwide is the Internet.
The Internet is the network that you use when you look at websites. You’re using it right now to view this page.
Let’s imagine the world before the Internet existed.
There was a woman who had been using computers all by herself for a long time.
Then, one day, she made a friend.
The two of them wanted to exchange information with each other’s computers.
This is called a network, where two people can exchange information with each other.
Eventually, this technology developed and a network was created where computers from all over the world could exchange information.
This network where computers all over the world can communicate with each other is called the Internet.
When you use the internet, you rely on a company called an “Internet Service Provider(ISP)” for help. You might have heard of them before, right?
An ISP is a company that connects the line you use with the rest of the internet world. When you use the internet, your computer connects to the ISP.
Not only you but also other people’s computers connect to ISP providers’ networks as well.
Depending on how you look at it, this could be considered as one network. If the ISP helps out, it might be possible for computers connected to the same ISP to communicate with each other.
But, if all the computers in the world are connected to one ISP network, it would be a nightmare for them to handle.
That’s why there are many ISPs, and they help each other. Then, the ISPs are connected to each other with lines(called cables) so they can exchange information. We call this network IXes or IXPs(Internet Exchange Points). In Japan, we call this just “Internet exchange”. They are the same meaning.
So basically, all the computers around the world are connected(If they want and try). Each computer connects to an ISPs nearby, and then the ISPs connect with each other to create one big network.
For example, let’s say Mr Chef in Japan wants to communicate with a beautiful mysterious woman in Germany.
The data that comes out of the chef’s computer will be sent to the ISP (Internet Service Provider) that the chef is subscribed to in Japan.
Then, the ISP will send the data to the ISP in Germany that the woman has a contract with.
In the end, the woman’s ISP in Germany will send his data to her computer.
So, that data sent by a chef in Japan has arrived at a woman in Germany.
By the way, we simplified things by saying “small networks managed by ISPs”. In reality, we consider each network to be an “Autonomous System(AS)“. If you are interested in the details, please check out the explanation of the term “Autonomous System”.
Also, the “inter” in “internet” is a prefix that means “between” or “mutual”. The “net” part is short for “network”.
So basically, the origin of the word suggests that the internet is a network of interconnected networks. In other words, we can say that it’s a network of networks.
