Many explanations and introductions on the Internet go into extended detail on the history,
components and protocols used on the Internet.
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If you are looking for such an extensive, semi-professional text, you will NOT find it here.
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"... When you buy a new car, they don't make you read "The Life and Times of Henry Ford" before
you can turn the top down and squeal off the lot. And when you get a new computer, nobody forces you to read a text on
logic and graphical design before you start up your computer ..." 
Internet (noun)
- A sprawling collection of computer networks that spans the globe, connecting government, military, educational and
commercial institutions, as well as private citizens to a wide range of computer services, resources, and information.
A set of network conventions and common tools are employed to give the appearance of a single large network, even
though the computers that are linked together use many different hardware and software platforms.
Now that we passed that barrier, let's look at some essential terms:
WWW 
World-Wide-Web
The WWW is usually thought of as the future of Internet. The WWW uses hypertext and
multimedia and allows the user to "travel" through the net, read text documents, view images, hear sounds, see movies
and animation.....
The WWW has become so common that you wouldn't be surprised to hear someone say:
"Hey when was your last visit to http://www.somesite.com"
The World Wide Web which is based on a protocol named HTTP, and it enables access to the information on the Internet,
and local information, based on hypertext documents. "Surfing" through the net, using a 'browser' or 'navigator' is made
possible by moving from a document or a site to another with hypertext links.
The World Wide Web is split into two parts: The clients and the servers.
The servers manage the data and answer requests from the client for that data. The client's application (browser or navigator)
enables this connection to the servers to collect the information.
HTTP 
HyperText Transport Protocol
The WWW organizes the information on the Internet, and local files in HYPERTEXT documents which put into use HTML.
Hypertext is a form of presenting information, text, and graphics, where specific words can be expanded to provide other information.
These words are the "links" to other documents, which, again, can contain text, files, graphics, sounds, movies.
Another way of using the "links" is to direct the user to a different location within the same document. There are no rules about
what kind the link would be, or where it would point to. The link is anything and everything the creator of the document finds interesting.
HTML 
HyperText Markup Language
As mentioned before, HTTP is used to transport hypertext documents.
In order for the web-browsers (navigators) to "understand" hypertext documents, there has to be a "language". That language is HTML.
HTML is a mark-up language. That means that HTML 'tags' are added to text, so that a www-browser will display text in different manners.
It is also used to display images within the document, and, of course the 'links'.
An HTML link is sometimes referred to as "anchor". The anchor is made possible by the use of a URL.
URL 
Universal Resource Locator.
A URL is a text string that holds the type of the source, the Internet address of the server, and the location of the file on that server.
Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) enable you to know where any file is, anywhere on the Internet. A URL can be used for directing
the browser to it, or as an anchor (link) within an HTML file.
The URL provides information on resource, location, path, (and a filename), and also the type of server on which the file is.
The common server types are:
| HTTP server
| identified as
| http://
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| FTP server
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| ftp://
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| TELNET serve
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| telnet://
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| GOPHER server
|
| gopher://
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| A local file
| is identified as
| file://
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As an example:
The URL for the document you are reading now is:
http://www.why-not.com/articles/whatis.htm
Where:
http:// specifies the resource as an HTTP server.
www.why-not.com is the "name" of the machine.
/articles/ is the path.
and whatis.htm is the filename.
| OK.
So we know the terms, and we know how the World-Wide-Web uses HyperText,
but is that all there is to the internet ???
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Of course not !
The internet is most known for the WWW but there's a lot more to it:
FTP 
File Transfer Protocol
(FTP is the user interface to the ARPANET standard File Transfer Protocol.)
FTP is exactly what it sounds: accessing, and transferring files that are stored on remote computer systems.
In Internet slang, these computers are called "SITES". Files on FTP sites are stored within a "tree" of directories (or nested folders
for mac/win95 users).
One of the directories at the "root" would normally be named PUB or HOME, and their sub-directories will commonly
have names that apply to their contents.
When visiting an FTP site using a "live" connection, the user can specify the name of the site to log in. If that site is meant to be used publicly,
the login-name will be anonymous, or an email address. The password will then be anonymous.
Once logged-in, the user can navigate his way through the directory-tree to the desired directory, select one or more files, and transfer
them to his local system.
Gopher 
Gopher is an excellent tool for exploring the Internet and is the best way to find a resource if you know what you want,
but not where to find it.
Gopher systems are menu-based, and provide a user-friendly interface to Internet resources, searches and information retrieval.
Gopher knows where things are, thanks to the many volunteers who spend time creating pointers to useful collections of 'Net resources'.
And Gopher takes the rough edges off of the Internet by automating remote logins, hiding the sometimes-cryptic command sequences,
thus offering powerful search capabilities.
Gopher is an Internet access protocol that allows server machines to publish material or resources, and client machines to receive
these resources. With Gopher, you can browse through the Internet by selecting resources from menus. Much like browsing through a remote
library's card catalog and automatically fetching the material you want, Gopher helps you access any of the data it presents.
The resource material consists of data in a variety of formats such as text, images, sounds, and services such as Telnet connections,
index servers, and phone book servers. It does not matter where the resources are located, as long as they are part of the Gopher system
which is often called GopherSpace. While documents reside on many servers, Gopher presents you with a hierarchy of items much like a file
system. Each item is labeled by an icon which identifies it as a: directory, text file (.txt), graphics file (.gif), phonebook, or searchable index.
Archie 
Archie servers can be thought of as a database of all the anonymous FTP sites in the world.
When you know what you're looking for, and don't know where it is, you would use Gopher.
But let's say you know the exact name of a file, and want to know on which FTP server it resides.
What you'll need now is a database of FTP sites, which is what Archie servers are used for. you might also be curious to know if files
matching a certain name are available via FTP and if they're available on more than one site.
Archie will find out all that for you.
Most Archie applications enable you to receive text, graphics, or sound files (after locating them) directly from the anonymous FTP sites.
But you must remember, that some Archie searches take a L-O-N-G time to complete.
Veronica
Speaking of searches, this is a good time to mention Veronica.
Just as Archie provides a searchable index of FTP sites, Veronica provides this function for "gopherspace".
Veronica will ask you what you want to look for (your search words) and then display another menu listing all the gopher menu items
that match your search.
In typical gopher fashion, you can then select one of these items and "go-pher it"!
WHOIS 
"WHOIS" is a service that queries a database of Internet names and addresses.
If you're looking for someone or you want to know where a particular Internet site is located, you can do it with WHOIS.
Information about a user will include some or all of these details:
full name
handle - a unique identifier, in parenthesis.
network mailbox for Defense Data Network (DDN) users
telephone number
mailing address
Information about a server or domain-name includes:
the name of the company who owns the domain-name
address, phone number, etc.
the Domain Name
Administrative Contact
Technical Contact, Zone Contact
Record last update date
Record creation date
Domain server(s)
These records are listed as they appear on the InterNIC's databases.
InterNIC = International Network Information Center
If you do not have a WHOIS application, here are two ways of getting the info.:
- By email:
Send a blank email message to: mailserv@internic.net
and in the SUBJECT line type: whois [name]
where [name] is the name you're looking for.
You'll get an answer (by email) within a few hours.
- On the WWW:
Direct your web-browser to: http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois
This will give you access to the InterNIC database.
TELNET 
TELNET is a terminal communications program that allows you to connect your PC with a UNIX or VMS Host computer and many types of BBSs.
Telnet can be connected using:
- TCP/IP protocol
- Async communications protocol
Supported Terminal Types:
Telnet connection enables to emulate a terminal session such as:
TTY, ANSI, VT52 , VT100, VT220, VT320, TVI950, TVI955, WYSE50, WYSE60.
Usually when connecting via telnet you will use a menu-based program on the host.
Other Telnet applications are available:
- Telnet3270 - used for receiving IBM S/370 and S/390 Sessions, by emulating IBM 3278 or 3279 terminals.
- Telnet5250 - used for IBM 5250 systems (for example, AS400).
FINGER 
"Finger" is a utility that returns information about another user.
Finger applications display information about each user on a specified host, including the following:
Login name
Full name
Home directory
Login shell
Time of login (if user is currently logged in)
Time of last login (if user is not currently logged in)
Terminal or host from which the user logged in
Depending on the server system, additional information could exist, such as:
The last time these users received mail
The last time they read their mail
Idle time
The ".plan" file
The ".plan" file is placed in a user's home directory and is used to describe any project the user is working on.
The projects themselves are sometimes described in a file named ".project" (in the same directory).
Usually it's just boring stuff, but sometimes people put useful information in their finger replies.
Other use it for all kind of information and/or fun stuff.
As an interesting example, try fingering this guy: jtchern@headcrash.berkeley.edu
You'll get the latest sports results !
If no user name is specified when 'fingering' , you'll receive information on all the users currently logged in to the specified host,
or information about the host itself. (depending on the server configuration).
This document was written by UDI Latarre
Some of the images on this page are taken from Netmanage Chameleon applications
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