BRIEF HISTORY OF THE INTERNET
Published: 2024-04-04 21:25:33

**BRIEF HISTORY OF THE INTERNET**
The origin of the internet was in the 1950’s and 60’s. It was built as a bridge for communication between computers. The computers used back then were mainframe computers, which were too big, heavy and expensive to be carried around. In order for computers to communicate, there had to be a way to transfer data from one computer to another. 
One of the earlier solutions used to bridge this gap is Circuit Switching. However, it was a really long process and could be easily interrupted. Because all the data were transferred in a packet, any interruption would terminate the transfer of all the data. To overcome the problem associated with circuit switching, another method called Packet Switching was devised. In packet switching, the data is broken down into smaller parts and these parts can be sent independently. Packet Switching took lesser time and the interruption was limited.
ARPANET was introduced in 1969 as a significant computer network to utilize packet switching. It is seen as the predecessor of the internet. The first communication by computers was recorded in 1969 in University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford Research Institute (SRI). After ARPANET, other networks were introduced such as CYCLADES, Merit Network, UUCP AND Usenet. Despite having quite a number of networks, these networks could not connect. In order to connect the different networks, Transmission Control Protocol and Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) was developed.
Internet is a short form of Internetworking and is described by Wikipedia ad a collection of data linked with a common protocol. Originally, internet was used by the government and government bodies. It was until the 1980’s that companies for Internet service provider (ISP) were formed.

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**Domain Name System (DNS), Network Packet, File Transfer Protocol, HTTP, HTTPS**
**Domain Name System (DNS)** is simply a system through which web searches connect with the information needed. All devices have their unique IP address which makes them identifiable. Users enter a search by using domain names while computers/browsers only recognize IP addresses. DNS is used to convert the domain names to IP addresses.
Network packet refers to the smaller chunks of data that is transferred from one computer to another. It enables more than two computers to interconnect and transfer data. It also hasten up the process of data transfer. Most packets have the TCP/IP headers.
**File Transfer Protocol** is the standard network protocol used to transfer files from a host (can be called server) to another (can also be called client) over a network such as Internet. In simple terms, it is a way to download or upload files between the internet and computer systems. It is provided by TCP/IP.
**HTTP** stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is an application protocol which allows users to communicate in the World Wide Web. It enables interaction by transmitting hypertext messages between client and server. It exchanges data as plaintext which makes data accessible to anyone. 
**HTTPS** stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. It is basically a secured version of HTTP. Rather than sending data in plaintext, it encrypts it and make it inaccessible to third parties. It uses both HTTP requests and responses with SSL and TLS technology.