Internet Addresses

TCP/IP Protocols

TCP/IP Protocols | Packets of Information | Addresses | The Naming System | Finding Addresses | Going Futher

How is such efficient communication possible? Well, there are two big advantages that the computers on the Internet have over our hypothetical natives of different cultures and countries. The first is that the computers of the Internet are in reasonably constant contact with each other over a set of telephone lines, transoceanic cables, satellite links, and so on that allow rapid transfer of electronic information. The second is that the computers of the Internet have agreed to a common set of understandings that allows them to exchange vast amounts of information even though internally they may speak very different computer languages.

These communications are possible because of a set of protocols, which is a fancy word for mutually agreed-upon rules about exactly how information will be transferred between the computers of the Internet. The two most important protocols that allow networks to cooperate with one another and exchange information are called TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol). Collectively, these two protocols are often referred to as TCP/IP.

Local networks can be based on a variety of technologies, but as long as the software layers on top of the network hardware implement the TCP/IP protocol operations, a network can exchange intelligible information with the rest of the Internet.