Communicating On The Internet

The language that computers use to speak to each other on the Internet is IP. IP stands for Internet Protocol. A protocol is essentially a language, and IP is the language that is spoken on the Internet. IP is for computer-to-computer communication.

IP Communication

Computer Computer

The Internet

There are special software applications that your computer uses to communicate with other applications on other computers. This is application-to-application communication. An example of an application that you are very familiar with, and are using right now to read this lesson, is a web browser. The web browser is used to communicate with another computer that has the web pages that you are looking for. In order for a web browser to communicate with another computer that serves the web pages there must be a language or protocol. This language is HTTP. HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol and it is the language that is spoken on the World Wide Web (WWW).

The computer that has the web pages that you surf the Internet for is called a web server.

HTTP Communication

Web Browser Web Server

World Wide Web (WWW)

There are other application-to-application communications languages like FTP. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and it is used to copy files from one computer to another on the Internet.

No matter what application you are using to communicate, if you are on the Internet, the computer is speaking to another computer in IP.

Class Assignment:

1. Surf the Internet.