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The ingredients of the Internet

The Internet is a global network of computers communicating with each other in some way, whether they're sending emails, downloading files, or sharing websites.
A world map with icons of computers on top: a laptop in Brazil, a laptop in Russia, a server in Africa, a phone in Sydney, and a phone in NY. Arrows go between the computers.
To create a global network of computers, we need:
  • Wires & wireless: Physical connections between computers.
  • IP & DNS: Addressing protocols to uniquely identify all the computers on the Internet.
  • TCP/IP: Protocols to reliably route packets of data from one computer to another.
  • TLS: A secure protocol for sending data without letting everyone else on the Internet read it.
  • HTTP & HTML: Common protocols and formats for sharing documents and viewing them across any type of computer.
You likely use the Internet every day, but you're probably new to many of those acronyms. In this unit, we'll learn more about each of the technologies underlying the Internet.
🤔 What would your life be without the Internet? What would you miss the most? What wouldn't you miss at all? What do you hope the Internet will enable in the future?

Want to join the conversation?

  • male robot donald style avatar for user eg27681
    What if there is no internet worldwide? How could you communicate to your family, if ever they were on the other country?
    (10 votes)
    Default Khan Academy avatar avatar for user
    • male robot donald style avatar for user Vincent Smith Jr.
      They did have other technology to communicate before the "concept" of the internet was invented. They had mail and different types of telegraphs to make up for this "lack" of communication. We could attempt to create those devices again, or attempt to create the internet... Again.
      (14 votes)
  • blobby blue style avatar for user LLPemberton
    referring to halfway about one minute and five second into the passage it said wirelescomunicaiton is that like our phones
    just asking a aquestion it does not make sense to me
    (1 vote)
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  • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Eishah Armaghan
    So, you mean to say that wireless device I've been using for my phone and desktop as well is already distributed into many parts without getting missed to any server and by the way , what is its speed like if it is equal to light or much slower or faster ? And if just somehow gets missed from somewhere , what will happen?
    (1 vote)
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    • aqualine ultimate style avatar for user Martin
      In a vacuum radio waves move at the speed of light, when they're moving through things they move slower.
      If the information that your system sends wasn't expected then nothing will happen, because the receiver won't know that something was supposed to come. If the receiver expected something, they will probably send a request for your system to resend the information.
      (1 vote)