Let's explain the internet..

[Uniquely_Defined]

Intro:
Well, due to boredom in English class I started to do a little reading and began taking some notes. Here are those notes, regurgitated in a little more organized fashion.

What do I hope to see out of this thread?
Well, I'm fairly interested on the way the internet works. I know some basic information, but I'd like to learn more. If you have any information to contribute, I'd sure (and I imagine other people as well would) appreciate reading it.

My understanding:

The internet is a compilation of various computers across the world all linked via TCP/IP.

Networks are formed by a variety of computers, connective cabling, and NICs(network interface cards).
+- LAN: Standing for local area network, is a network that's
closely linked (speaking in terms of geography /
placement in the real world).

A. Ethernet - It's the most commonly used local area network structure with some dis/advantages. The biggest disadvantage (and something that's fixed in the Token Ring method) is data collision. Whenever one person on a LAN sends data, the data may collide with other data that another person is sending simultaneously. However, as Ethernet slowly moves towards fiber optics and 10GbE(the standard connection nowadays seems to be 10Mbps) the problem will eventually be fixed. That's an advantage in and of itself -- speed.

B. Token Ring - An uncommon LAN structure that consists of a token allotting special privileges to one machine at a time thus disallowing for data collision. For a simple analogy, think of the token as a card, and think of each computer as a person sitting in a circle. Any time someone wanted to speak, they had to wait until they have possession of the token. Everyone passes around the token sequentially regardless if they have anything to say (data to send) which in effect slows down the network. Is this alternate better? Besides not being a commercial standard, it doesn't seem to fix the speed problem, but you can form your own opinions on how efficient this method is.

+- WAN: Standing for wide area network, it's a network
that's separated by vast difference and is
connected via a hub, router, or a gateway.

Protocols are a set of rules that a network must follow and specifies how data is sent. The two most common protocols are TCP/IP and UDP. However, due to UDP not guaranteeing sequential data, or reliability, TCP/IP is the most common, commercial standard, internet protocol used today.

+- TCP/IP: Standing for Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol, is today's standard for
connecting to the internet due to three(IMO)
reasons.
1.) The most obvious is that it's widespread.
People use what they're comfortable with less
they venture out into unknown waters.
2.) When processing the data it ensures that it will be on time, intact, and uncorrupted.
3.) It's widely available across multiple OS platforms.

Packets are the way that the internet breaks down your information into manageable, small units of information.


The entire process: You send your data across a network. TCP/IP retrieves this data. It then breaks it down into small packages that disallows for a large unit of data using the entirety of bandwidth on a network/stopping all other data sending. TCP/IP that handles the data and tells the receiving network how to manage the incoming data.


Well, hopefully this thread will go somewhere.