What is Internet?

The Internet is the foremost important tool and the prominent resource that is being used by almost every person across the globe. It connects millions of computers, webpages, websites, and servers. Using the internet we can send emails, photos, videos, and messages to our loved ones. Or in other words, the Internet is a widespread interconnected network of computers and electronic devices(that support Internet). It creates a communication medium to share and get information online. If your device is connected to the Internet then only you will be able to access all the applications, websites, social media apps, and many more services. The Internet nowadays is considered the fastest medium for sending and receiving information.

History of the Internet

The Internet came in the year 1960 with the creation of the first working model called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency). It allowed multiple computers to work on a single network which was their biggest achievement at that time. ARPANET uses packet switching to communicate multiple computer systems under a single network. In October 1969, using ARPANET first message was transferred from one computer to another. After that technology continues to grow. 

How is the Internet Set Up?

The internet is set up with the help of physical optical fiber data transmission cables or copper wires and various other networking mediums like LAN, WAN, MAN, etc. For accessing the Internet even the 2G, 3G, and 4G services and the Wifi require these physical cable setups to access the Internet. There is an authority named ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) located in the USA which manages the Internet and protocols related it like IP addresses.

What is an IP Address?

IP Address stands for Internet Protocol Address. Every PC/Local machine is having an IP address and that IP address is provided by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs). These are some sets of rules which govern the flow of data whenever a device is connected to the Internet. It differentiates computers, websites, and routers. Just like human identification cards like Aadhaar cards, Pan cards, or any other unique identification documents. Every laptop and desktop has its own unique IP address for identification. It’s an important part of Internet technology. An IP address is displayed as a set of four-digit like 192.154.3.29. Here each number on the set ranges from 0 to 255. Hence, the total IP address range from 0.0.0.0 to 255.255.255.255. 

You can check the IP address of your Laptop or desktop by clicking on the Windows start menu -> then right-click and go to network -> in that go to status and then Properties you can see the IP address. There are four different types of IP addresses are available:

1. Static IP Address
2. Dynamic IP Address
3. Private IP Address
4. Public IP Address

World Wide Web (WWW)

The world wide web is a collection of all the web pages, and web documents that you can see on the Internet by searching their URLs (Uniform Resource Locator) on the Internet. For example, www.geeksforgeeks.org is the URL of the GFG website, and all the content of this site like webpages and all the web documents are stored on the world wide Web. Or in other words, the world wide web is an information retrieval service of the web. It provides users with a huge array of documents that are connected to each other by means of hypertext or hypermedia links. Here, hyperlinks are known as electronic connections that link the related data so that users can easily access the related information hypertext allows the user to pick a word or phrase from text, and using this keyword or word or phrase can access other documents that contain additional information related to that word or keyword or phrase. World wide web is a project which is created by Timothy Berner’s Lee in 1989, for researchers to work together effectively at CERN. It is an organization, named World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which was developed for further development in the web.

Difference Between World Wide Web and the Internet

The main difference between the World Wide Web and the Internet are:

Uses of the Internet

Some of the important usages of the internet are:

• Online Businesses (E-commerce): Online shopping websites have made our life easier, e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra are providing very spectacular services with just one click and this is a great use of the Internet.
• Cashless Transactions: All the merchandising companies are offering services to their customers to pay the bills of the products online via various digital payment apps like Paytm, Google Pay, etc. UPI payment gateway is also increasing day by day. Digital payment industries are growing at a rate of 50% every year too because of the INTERNET.
• Education: It is the internet facility that provides a whole bunch of educational material to everyone through any server across the web. Those who are unable to attend physical classes can choose any course from the internet and can have point-to-point knowledge of it just by sitting at home. High-class faculties are teaching online on digital platforms and providing quality education to students with the help of the Internet.
• Social Networking: The purpose of social networking sites and apps is to connect people all over the world. With the help of social networking sites, we can talk, and share videos, and images with our loved ones when they are far away from us. Also, we can create groups for discussion or for meetings.
• Entertainment: The Internet is also used for entertainment. There are numerous entertainment options available on the internet like watching movies, playing games, listening to music, etc. You can also download movies, games, songs, TV Serial, etc., easily from the internet.

Security and the Internet

Very huge amount of data is managed across the Internet almost the time, which leads to the risk of data breaching and many other security issues. Both Hackers and Crackers can lead to disrupting the network and can steal important information like Login Credentials, Banking Credentials, etc.

Difference between Internet, Intranet and Extranet

1. Internet:

• The network formed by the co-operative interconnection of millions of computers, linked together is called Internet. Internet comprises of : 

• People :People use and develop the network. 
• Resources :A collection of resources that can be reached from those networks. 
• A setup for collaboration :It includes the member of the research and educational committees worldwide. 

2. Intranet:
It is an internal private network built within an organization using Internet and World Wide Web standards and products that allows employees of an organization to gain access to corporate information. 

3. Extranet :
It is the type of network that allows users from outside to access the Intranet of an organization.