A) Read & get ready to answer all the questions from the text.

What Is the Internet?

1. First and foremost the Internet is a large network made up of a number of smaller networks. For another thing "the" Internet is made up of thousands of interconnected networks in over 70 countries, comprised of academic, commercial, government and military networks. Originally developed for the military, much of the Internet today is used for academic and commercial research.

2. Users have access to unpublished data, journals and BBSs for every subject known to humankind. As of the end of 1994, an estimated 30,000 networks are on the Internet. The Internet is growing rapidly because of the World Wide Web, an Internet facility that links documents around the world, which contain both text and graphics.

3. The Internet has also become the worldwide system for electronic mail. E-mail connection to the Internet is available through all major online services such as CompuServe, BIX and America Online, thus all of these services can exchange mail using the Internet as the common denominator. DELPHI was the first online service to provide full Internet access, not just e-mail. All the others have followed suit.

4. The backbone of the Internet is a series of high-speed communications links between major supercomputer sites and educational and research institutions within the U.S. and throughout the world. The U.S. National Science Foundation maintains a major part of the backbone, called the NSFNET. Commercial service providers hook into the backbone to provide lines for subscribers.

5. Internet computers use the TCP/IP communications protocol. There are over two million hosts on the Internet, a host being a mainframe, mini or workstation that directly supports the Internet Protocol (the IP in TCP/IP). The Internet is connected to all types of computer networks worldwide via gateways that convert TCP/IP into other protocols.

6. Some of the major utilities used to work the Internet are FTP, Archie, Telnet, Gopher and Veronica. FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. There are countless files throughout the Internet that can be downloaded free of charge using FTP. Archie is a utility that provides listings of these files. Telnet is a terminal emulation program that lets you log onto a computer in the Internet and run a program. Gopher is a utility that lets you search hierarchical menus describing Internet files (not just file names), and Veronica lets you make more sophisticated searches on Gopher sites.

7. The IAB, or Internet Activities Board is the governing body for the Internet. Its Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) explores new technologies which it refers to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The IETF works on the specifications of new standards. To obtain a list of organizations that provide access to the Internet, see PDIAL. For a list of World Wide Web sites, see Yahoo.

8. Is It Going Commercial? There is more activity, excitement and hype about the Internet than ever. Using the World Wide Web, thousands of companies, from conglomerates to mom and pop shops, are contemplating how to make the Internet a worldwide shopping mall. Will it succeed? Will it be too confusing? Will Internet traffic bog down like the Los Angeles freeway? Stay tuned! Getting Started?

b) Find out what stands for each acronym from the text above.

c) Discuss the structure, the peculiarities & the future of the Internet.