Module 1 Overview

While still getting myself organised, managed to start some study today. It is the first time I have used a blog, as of yesterday, so hope I am using it as it is intended.

The discussion board via WebCT is very helpful and I can see myself using this often as a great way to interact with other students and also to get help.

Read through Module 1 today. I have included a brief summary below of the main points within the module. This is for my own point of reference and to help me keep track of what I have covered in the modules.

The purpose of the module is to gain some knowledge of the underlying structures of the internet and how to use them to ones advantage.

The module basically covers the hardware and protocols that make the internet work.

Hardware:

Servers - Provide clients with access to machines to service the clients request eg providing a web address.

Clients - Normally a 'home user', a machine that provides no services to other machines.

Routers - Specialised computers that decide the 'route' by which to send packets of information from one computer to another.

Protocols:

Protocols basically describe how the client and server interact or 'talk'/organise data exchange/flow between each other. Some of the basic protocols are;

IP (INTERNET PROTOCOL) - Enables computers to talk to each other over network.

TCP/IP (TRANSMISSION CONTROL PROTOCOL/INTERNET PROTOCOL) -Splits information into packets, as well as information on how to assemble those packets.

DNS (DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM) - Maps text names to IP addresses automatically HTTP.

FTP (FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL) - The standard of transferring files from one computer to another over the internet.

SMTP (SIMPLE MAIL TRANSFER PROTOCOL) - Email servers exchange messages using the SMTP protocol.

HTTP (HYPERTEXT TRANSFER PROTOCOL) - Used to communicate HTML pages to browsers.

URL (UNIFORM RESOURCE LOCATOR) - The system by which web addresses are recorded.

I used to consider myself quite adept when it came to the internet and the web, but I can see that I have much to learn. Gaining a better understanding of how it works and knowing more about the tools that are available will certainly save alot of time and energy. In the past I think it might be right to say that the the web has probably taken me where IT wanted to go, rather than the other way around.

I plan on tackling the Module 1 tasks tommorrow so looking forward to seeing how it goes.