TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) and IP (Internet Protocol) are sets of rules for sending information over the Internet. TCP/IP also refers to the family of protocols used to connect computers and transfer data over the network. For example, when you send an e-mail message to a friend across the Internet, the message will first be broken up into packages ("packets") of bits according to the Internet e-mail protocol. The message packets then takes the path of least resistance, moving from one co-operating Internet host computer to another until all the bits of the message reach the Internet host computer that manages your friend's e-mail account. Your friend then dials into that computer and reads your message using software that understands the Internet e-mail protocol.
The first Internet protocols and services were developed by and for the US military in the late 1960's with the help of government contractors, university faculty and students and paid for with tax dollars. Most commercial activity was forbidden over the core high speed network refered to as the Internet backbone until the Spring of 1994 when the National Science Foundation turned over management of that backbone to a commercial consortium.
Along with the Internet e-mail the most heavily used Intent protocols are those for transfering files (ftp), logging in to remote computers (telnet), transfering network news (thousands of "Usenet" discussion groups) and for delivering graphical pages containing links to other graphical pages (http) the "hypertext transfer protocol."
When you connect to the Internet you either connect directly to one of thousands of Internet "host"computers or indirectly to a computer that provides a "gateway" to the network of Internet computers. Internet host computers are owned by government, non-profits, companies, educational institutions, and individuals. It is the willingness of Internet host computer owners and operators to transfer messages to other Internet computers that allows the "net" to function. Each time a new computer is added to the network, it's like adding another switch in a telephone network. But that "switching" computer also functions as a new source of content and conversations and a destination for content and conversations moving over the network.
From any one machine on the "net" you can access some or all of the files and programs on any other publicly accessible computer on the "net." Of the many standard protocols services that can be accessed via the Internet, e-mail is the most popular.
The Internet protocol that has surged in popularity over the past 18 months is the hypertext transfer protocol (http). The collection of linked documents following the http protocol is popularly referred to as the World-Wide Web or just the "web" The web standards were originally developed in 1989 in Switzerland by a physicist to simplify the sharing of papers and scientific collaboration over the Internet.
The hypertext transfer protocol defined standards for embedding code (html, hypertext mark-up language in one document to create links to other documents on the same computer or or other computer servers anywhere on the Internet. With the web users did not have to learn Unix commands to navigate the Internet. They merely selected a link on a "page" and the connection is made to another hypertext document anywhere on the Internet. When a group collaborated on a paper, each contributor could edit his own linked file on his own server without any one having to coordinate the changes.
About two years ago formatted text, graphics, sound, interactive forms, and video were added to the web hypertext standards and the rest is history. Thousand of companies, institutions and individuals have since set up web sites and web pages on the Internet. For brief tour of the web and more information take the CitySource Internet Express.