Appendix A summary
The main takeaway after reading Appendix A: “The Internet and the World Wide Web”, is how seamlessly computers are designed to connect to networks which connect users to the Internet. I remember when I first had access to the Internet having the tediously slow dial up connection which took forever. Though, I wish this chapter explained what all that noise was when you were signing on. It is convenient that later computers were designed with network cards built into them. Another clever aspect of computer design is how servers that run network operating system software connected to a client/server network can provide the user with cost savings. Additionally, computer networks were intelligently designed to have no electrical interference by using fiber-optic cables.
I learned in this chapter that each computer has its own unique identification number called an IP address. I have never seen many domain names outside of .com and .org. Also, in this chapter I learned about packet switching. Packet switching sounds like a puzzle. I was surprised to read that the Internet was initially run by the U.S. government. Interestingly, the U.S. government still has special control over the Internet.
It was intriguing to find out that the same guy who invented the computer mouse invented hypertext. I also did not know that there were so many ways to hook up to the Internet. I was aware that when there is high traffic on the internet it can result in slower speeds. I have encountered that while online shopping for an item that was newly released and highly sought. The higher traffic caused the website to slow and even crash
Overall, there were many aspects regarding the design and origins of the Internet that I was not aware of. After reading this chapter, I now understand the Internet better and how computers connect to networks to communicate and share information. I first used the computer around 1993 in High School, but did not have my own computer until 1997. I never used the Internet early on when it was much more archaic. The graphic user interface (GUI) has come a long way since then and will undoubtedly continue to change.