New Terms
New Term: Protocol: A protocol is nothing more than a set
of rules. On the Internet, it is a set of rules computers
use to communicate across networks. As long as
everyone follows the rules, communication can occur
freely
New Term: Backbone: A backbone is nothing more than a
major cable that carries network traffic. Although
thousands of regional private and public networks exist,
most Internet traffic spends most of its trip on one of the
major backbones
TCP/IP is a set of protocols developed to allow cooperating
computers to share resources across a network. Today
TCP/IP is the most important protocol that internet is
based on.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
1
The Primary Advantages of
the TCP/IP
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
It is the most complete and accepted enterprise
networking protocol available today.
All modern operating systems offer TCP/IP support.
Most large networks rely on TCP/IP for much of their
network traffic.
TCP/IP is also the protocol standard for the Internet.
Using TCP/IP technology is the ability to connect
dissimilar systems.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
2
Some Common Terms



The Internet is a network of computers
spanning the globe. It is also called the World
Wide Web.
An Internet Browser is a software program that
enables you to view Web pages on your
computer. Browsers connect computers to the
Internet, and allow people to “surf the Web.”
Internet Explorer is one of the browsers most
commonly used. There are other browsers
available as well, including Netscape.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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



A site or area on the World Wide Web that
is accessed by its own Internet address is
called a Web site.
A Web Page is like a page in a book.
Websites often have several pages that you
can access by clicking on links. A Web site
can be a collection of related Web pages.
Each Web site contains a home page (this
is the original starting page) and may also
contain additional pages.
Different computers will have different
home pages. You can set your own
webpage.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
4
Layout of a Web Page
1. Title bar – tells you the name of the web page
2. Menu bar – has commands for moving around the webpage,
printing, etc
3. Tool bar – short cuts to commands. Each picture represents a
command
4. Address bar – webpage address. If you want to go directly to
a web page, you will need to know the address.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
5
Parts of a Web Address






A web address is typically composed of four
parts:
For example, the address
http://www.google.ca is made up of the
following areas:
http://
This Web server uses Hypertext Transfer Protocol
(HTTP). This is the most common protocol on the
Internet.
www
This site is on the World Wide Web.
google
The Web server and site maintainer.
ca
This tells us it is a site in Canada.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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




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Endings of web pages tells us a bit about the
page. Some common endings to web addresses
are:
com (commercial)
edu (educational institution)
gov (government)
net (network)
org (organization)
You might also see addresses that add a country
code as the last part of the address such as:
ca (Canada)
uk (United Kingdom)
fr (France)
us (United States of America)
au (Australia)
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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How to Search the Internet
Two basic ways
1. if you know the address of the web
page (example: www.mu.edu.sa )
2. Using a search engine like Google
to find the address. This is called a
keyword search
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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Typing in the Web Site Address
1.
2.
3.
4.
Go to the address bar. Click once to
highlight the address. (It should turn blue).
Hit the Delete key on your keyboard.
Enter the following address:
www.theweathernetwork.com
Then press Enter on the keyboard or click
on the word Go on the right side of the
Address Bar.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
9
Search the Internet


If you don’t know the address of the
webpage, but want to learn more about a
topic or find a particular website, you will
need to do a search.
There are several handy search engines
out there that will locate information for
you. Two of the mostly commonly used
are:
www.google.com
www.yahoo.com
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
10
Ways of Internet Utility
1.
Communication
2.
Remote File Transfer Operations
3.
Web Publishing
4.
Document Searching
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
11
Ways of Internet Utility



With all the publicity and television commercials, you
might conclude that the most popular use of the
Internet is the World Wide Web.
Well, here's a surprise. The most popular use, even
today, is electronic mail, or e-mail. That's right, good
old
person-to-person,
"let's
talk"-type
communication. It is almost fitting that one of the
original uses of the Internet would still be the most
popular.
You can, of course, communicate in other ways on
the Net. In the following sections, you look at a few
ways people are using the Internet to communicate
with one another.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
12
Communication
Personal Communication
Why e-mail ?


E-mail provides you with more than just a way to
write Aunt Jane a note about how things are going.
Of course, many people can and do use e-mail for
this very task, and it is very effective when used this
way. But you also can find some more practical
reasons for personal communication.
Have you ever tried to get in touch with someone
and ended up playing phone tag for two days before
finally getting hold of them? If you have, you know
how frustrating this situation can be. Fortunately, email eliminates this problem.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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Communication


Using e-mail, you can quite often get hold of people
who might otherwise take hours or days to get in
touch with. Not only that, but by using e-mail, you
can contact them on your time--no more waiting on
hold
or
wondering
whether
you've
been
disconnected.
Just send some e-mail, go about your other business,
and wait for a response to pop in your mailbox.
Which, by the way, points to e-mail's biggest
advantage: It's fast! It's in the Mail
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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Communication


Faxes are nice, but over long distances, the
costs can add up. What if you had a quick and
easy way to transmit instantly any type of file,
document, or computer program electronically?
Well, you do. With most e-mail programs, you
can encode and "attach" documents to e-mail
messages.
Why bother with wasted paper and time at the
fax machine? E-mail your message!
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
15
Communication
A Public Forum


Wouldn't it be great if you could have access to
hundreds of other people through one e-mail
address? The listserv is just such a vehicle.
By signing up, or "subscribing," to a listserv, you
then gain instant access to everyone else who
subscribes to that listserv.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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Communication
A Public Forum


New Term: Listserv: A listserv is basically an e-mail
address that is configured to forward every message it
receives to the e-mail addresses of the users who have
"subscribed" to it. You can think of a listserv as an electronic
interactive newspaper.
Listservs have literally thousands of topics for their member
to discuss. Everybody from programmers to zoologists can
find a listserv. If more than one person is interested in a
particular topic, you can almost certainly find a listserv for it.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
17
Communication
CAUTION:


Listservs are great, no doubt about it. They do,
however, pose a downside.
Some of them are large and can sometimes dump
hundreds of e-mail messages a day into your
mailbox, so be careful out there.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
18
Communication
More Public Forums


Using listservs isn't the only way to
reach out and talk to large groups of
people on the Internet.
Using newsgroups, you can accomplish
the same task in a different way.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
19
Communication
The differences between listserv and newsgroups



The first difference between a listserv and a
newsgroup is in the way messages are received.
With listservs, messages are sent directly to your
mailbox, where you have to sort them out and
decide what to read.
Newsgroup messages, on the other hand, are
posted to something like a public electronic bulletin
board, where you have to go to read the messages.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
20
Communication
The differences between listserv and newsgroups



The second difference is one of access.
Anybody with an e-mail address can subscribe to a
listserv.
To read newsgroups, however, your Internet
service provider must provide you with access.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
21
Communicate in Real Time

In the last few years, the Internet has been hit by a
wave of real-time communication. The processes of
getting information, talking to others, and collaborating
with colleagues no longer require a waiting period.
Chatting


At some point, you may want to remove the time delay
between sending and receiving e-mail. You may want
to converse directly with another person or have the
ability to address a group of people.
Today the most popular chatting services and tools are
IRC and ICQ.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
22
What Is IRC and How Does
It Work?



IRC (Internet Relay Chat) was developed in the late
1980s by Jarkko Oikarinen. It consists of a network
of chat servers located all over the globe. Each server
is connected via the network, allowing users to have
real-time communications.
Using IRC, large groups of people can simultaneously
participate in discussion groups, called channels.
A user's message is instantly viewed by all the other
guests in that channel.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
23
What Is IRC and How Does
It Work?



IRC poses no restrictions to the number of users.
Tens of thousands of people connect to IRC
everyday to discuss everything from world news to
what they had for dinner last night.
If you can't find a channel for your topic of
discussion, you can always start your own.
Actually, a few separate networks make up IRC.
The two biggest are EFnet and Undernet. Some
channels are shared by both, whereas other
channels reside on only one of the networks.
Because of the network connections to either EFnet
or Undernet, you don't have to connect to the same
server every time. Try connecting to the one that is
geographically closest to you. Doing so may make
your connection faster.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
24
Remote File Transfer
Operations



FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the one of the most
important and popular protocols used in Internet. Any
two computers from any two parts of the world can be
connected to each other through FTP in order to send,
get any file to/from each other.
You can use standard FTP commands in order to
connect to an FTP server, then you may upload (send)
or download (get) any file to/from this server (if you
familiar with the command set of FTP).
If you do not know FTP commands, you may use any
FTP tools (e.i.: Cute-FTP, Bulletproof- FTP) or a new
generation web browser which is supporting FTP (e.i.:
Internet explorer, Netscape Navigator, …) for this
purpose.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
25
Remote File Transfer
Operations


Most of the FTP servers require user accounts
with passwords in order to allow their users
to connect themselves.
FTP servers may allow foreign users to login
(connect themselves) as anonymous user
with limited rights.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
26
WEB Publishing



World Wide Web (WWW) is going to be the
most effective and the cheapest publishing
environment of today (it is competing with
TV now).
Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) is a
language that forms the documents in order
to published in the WWW environment.
Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a
protocol, that is used for transferring HTML
pages from WEB servers to the clients
browsers.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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Document Searching



The Internet isn't called the Information
Superhighway for nothing.
The Internet is information.
Sometimes unfiltered, many times even
useless, more information is available on
the Internet than any one person could ever
deal with.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
28
Document Searching


Fortunately, some powerful search tools can
help you find just about anything you want
(i.e.: Finding People, Places, and Things).
In the final analysis, whether you find the
Internet useful depends to a large degree
on whether you can find the information
you want and need.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
29
Document Searching

New Term: Search engine: A search engine
does exactly what its name says. It is really a
computer program that indexes a database
and then enables users to search it for
relevant information.
Finding Things

You can search for billions of things on the
Internet. Searching is an integral part of
anyone's Internet use today.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
30
What exactly is the web?

The web is a complex, international,
cross platform, cross language, cross
cultural mesh of servers, clients, users,
databases, and quite a few artificial
intelligences
all
talking,
working,
searching,
viewing,
accessing,
downloading, and who knows what else.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
31
What exactly is the web?


As such, no one owns or controls the web. In fact, it is
impossible to own or control by its very nature and
design. In fact, "it" is not even an "it". You can't hold
the web or make it tangible. Instead, you can think of
the web not as a thing, but as a process, an action, a
medium of communication.
This fact has profound implications on how you should
think about designing web pages. For example, give up
any hopes of maintaining intellectual property over
what you distribute on the web and know that the only
information that is private or secure is the information
that is stored solely in your own neurons.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
32
What exactly is the web?


“The Internet" is quite a different thing from
"an Intranet".
An Intranet is a mini web that is limited to
the users, machines, and software programs
of a specific organization, usually a
company. Since organizations are typically
small and have more control over policies
and information systems, intranets are often
more controllable.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
33
What exactly is the web?



So how do all these computers, software
packages, and people communicate with
each other?
The creators of the web devised standards
of communication upon which the web is
built.
These standards sit at a layer above
operating systems, computer languages,
or Internet transmission protocols and
provide
a
basic
medium
for
communication.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
34
What exactly is the web?


The two most important standards
(protocols) used on the web today are
HTTP and HTML. Let's look at each of those
protocols more in depth...
The web is the largest client/server system
implemented to date." It is also the most
complex and heterogeneous one that must
deal with multitudes of operating systems,
human
languages,
programming
languages,
software,
hardware,
and
middleware.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
35
What is a client/server
system?
A client/server system is a very keen way
of
distributing
information
across
information systems like a local area
network (LAN), a wide area network
(WAN), or the Internet.

A client/server system works something
like this:



A big hunk of computer (called a server) sits in
some office somewhere with a bunch of files that
people might want access to.
This computer runs a software package
(uh...also called a server unfortunately) that
listens all day long to requests over the wires.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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What is a client/server
system?

The whole process looks something like the
figure below:
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
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What is a client/server
system?



So if the web is a huge client/server system, what
is the underlying client/server protocol that is used
by the client software and the server software for
communication?
Well the client/server protocol used by the web is
HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol).
HTTP is a protocol that is defined in several RFC´s
(Request for Comments) located at the Internic
and has had several generations worth of revisions
(HTTP/09, HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1).
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
38
What is a client/server
system?


HTTP is a "request-response" type protocol
that specifies that a client will open a
connection to a server then send a request
using a very specific format. The server will
then respond and close the connection.
The details of HTTP are less important for
an HTML designer as they are to a web
programmer, so we will not go into the
specifics here (although they are available
from the Illustrated Guide to HTTP
referenced in the Resources section below).
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
39
What is a client/server
system?


The main thing you need to know is that
HTTP is a language spoken between your
web browser (client software) and a web
server (server software) so that they can
communicate
with
each
other
and
exchange files.
As a web designer, you will deal much
more with the other web protocol, HTML
that is discussed next.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
40
HTML the Language of the
Web



So what does a web browser (client software) do with a file
it receives from a web server (server software)? Does it
just display it to the human user as is?
The answer is yes and no. Actually, in some cases, the web
browser will display a document exactly the way it receives
it from the web server. For example, if the document
requested is an image, the web browser will display it
directly. Similarly, plain text files will be displayed just as
they are sent.
However, if the document is an HTML document, the web
browser will "interpret" the HTML and display it according
to the instructions contained within the HTML code.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
41
HTML the Language of the
Web


Well, what is HTML code and why must it be
interpreted?
HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) is a
very simple language used to "describe" the
logical structure of a document.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
42
HTML the Language of the
Web






Is HTML a Programming Language?
Actually, though HTML is often called a programming
language it is really not.
Programming languages are 'Turing-complete', or
'computable'. That is, programming languages can be
used to compute something such as the square root
of pi or some other such task.
Typically programming languages use conditional
branches and loops and operate on data contained in
abstract data structures.
HTML is much easier than all of that. HTML is simply
a 'markup language' used to define a logical structure
rather than compute anything.
It is a semantic issue, but it is one which you should
officially be aware of.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
43
HTML the Language of the
Web
 For
example, it can describe which text the browser
should emphasize, which text should be considered body
text versus header text, and so forth.
 The
beauty of HTML of course is that it is generic enough
that it can be read and interpreted by a web browser
running on any machine or operating system.
 This
is because it only focuses on describing the logical
nature of the document, not on the specific style.
 The
web browser is responsible for adding style. For
instance emphasized text might be bolded in one
browser and italicized in another. It is up to the browser
to decide.
Dr. Loai Bani Melhim
44