We commonly use Google Chrome, Firefox and many more to stream or to play or to chat, etc. Didn’t feel magical anytime? Like wow, we are able to access the world in our palms! Well yes, that’s a magic until you start unwinding the loops. The magic is nothing but the Internet. Then how and where the magic is performed? Let’s open the trick slowly!
However, the Internet we are able to access is an interconnection between the computers across the globe. In computer terms, it is called a Network! The computers or the devices in a network can communicate to each other. The way of designing, building and managing the networks is known as Networking. The giant network that is formed by the interconnection between the billions of computers is what we called Internet. Through Internet we will be able to access information from any browser. The information we require is not directly available from the Internet but on other computers known as Servers. Internet is just a connection formed by computers and physical wires.
Now, we understand that we don’t access the information directly, instead we get them through a request from our browser through the Internet to the Server. Confusing right? Let’s go through the easier way!
We use browsers to access data. How our browsers get the data is through the Internet. And how the Internet gets this data is through the Servers. We are clients as we request for the information. So, yes it is not that simple we see. We directly donot connect to the Servers, but we are connected to our Internet Service Provider (ISP). From the ISP, they might be connected to some other larger network. From there we will get our data.
How do the ISP know that the specific data should reach us? Let’s assume a common scenario. You have posted a letter. There is the name of the person and the address to be reached on the letter. Now the postman takes it to the destination. Here letter is our information. Since there might be large amounts of data, they are broken down into pieces or chunks known as data packets. The address is our IP address of the network. There are devices connected to the network like the people living at the address. So, each device has unique identification number called MAC address like we identify the person. So, the data will be delivered to the device of the MAC address that is recognized by the ISP.
Yeah. The data is getting transmitted. But how? There should be a path! Yes. The computers are connected physically via cables. The data we are requesting will flow through these cables in the form of electrical or optical signals depending on the type of cable used. Can they simply communicate like Hi Hello? No. We know that computers are capable of understanding only binary digits. So, the transmitted data is converted to binary before the transmission. We cannot simply knock the door of College’s director to speak right? There are rules everywhere. In computers, these rules are known as protocols. They should be capable of communicating in such a way that other computers should understand, if not they should be repeated, etc. But how? Here comes the models of communication!
What are those models? What are the protocols that are followed? How the converted data can be made understandable to the recipient? How cables can be related to the communication? What are those cables? Why there should be two addresses? How are IP and MAC addresses identified? How can multiple devices can be connected to a single network?
Wooo!! A lot of questions in the way right? No worries! A cloud of questions might be the sign for the rain of knowledge! Let’s play together in the rain.
For the curious ones!
Much flood ahead! Till then, have a healthy and safe learning!
Stay Safe and Spread knowledge!!
Techprodezza 
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