"The Internet is not just a technology, it's a lifeline for our interconnected world, empowering individuals, businesses, and societies with unprecedented access to knowledge, communication, and opportunity." - Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the World Wide Web
That was an Awesome Quote! wasn't it?
Hey folks! ππ»ββοΈ
First of all, I congratulate you ππ» that you have chosen the most concise blog post to know about the Internet and its Working, and may you gain amazing and upskilling knowledge from this!
Let's Go! ππ
Before we talk about the Internet and how it works, let's understand what networks are. Imagine you (π¦π») and your friend (π¦π») have your computers connected with a cable.
That creates a network between the two computers, allowing you to share data but here the sharing of data is limited to you and your friend only.
Now, What exactly is the Internet? β‘
It stands for "Interconnected Networks." It's an Interconnection of different networks enabling the sharing of data between any devices, which means you can share data between a computer (π₯οΈ) in India and a computer (π₯οΈ) in America.
That's the basic idea of the Internet. ππ»
Hope it's Clear! π
But, How does the Internet workβ
Let's Take a Deep Dive! π
Your data is stored in a place called a Data Center, and your device is connected to that data center through Submarine Cables. π
(Want to know more about Submarine Cables? Refer to this.)
The blog you're reading, for example, is stored in a Data Center on a solid-state device (or SSD) in a Server, similar to the internal memory of your smartphone, Computer, etc. π³οΈ
That's the main idea of it! π
But how does the data actually reach you through these submarine cables? π€
This is where IP addresses come in. IP addresses are like unique home (π‘) addresses.
Just like when you order something online π¦ and it's delivered to your home address, Similarly, data is delivered to you using your IP address as the reference for the destination. for example, your Computer π₯οΈ .
The server that holds the data also has an IP address, and data is accessed using that address. The Internet service provider (ISP) is responsible for providing IP addresses. π
Is it Clear? π€
If Yes!, then let's Move on! π
So many IPs, How to remember themβ
However, remembering IP addresses is inefficient and not-possible because there are so many of them, and they can change.
To solve this, we have Domain names that directly correspond to IP addresses. π
It's like a phonebook βοΈ, where phone numbers are mapped to the names of the owners.
When you enter a domain name in your browser, such as user.com, your browser sends a request to a DNS server to get the corresponding IP address. π¦
Once the IP address is retrieved, the browser sends the request to the data center's server containing the data at that IP address. π«‘
The requested data then travels from the data center to you through submarine cables and reaches your device via a router or in the case of cellular data through a cell tower πΌ.
Why is data transfer over the Internet so much efficientβ
It's because the data is broken down into smaller parts called Data Packetsπ¦.
These packets make the flow of data more efficient. Each data packet contains the IP address, sequence number of the server, and client (user). π
This information helps the data packets reach your device in the correct order. π«
If a data packet is lost along the way, an acknowledgment is sent to the server or data center to resend the lost packet. π¨
The sequence numbers on the data packets help with reassembling the data in the right order once most of the packets reach the destination. πΆ
Congratulations!π
You just gained foundational Knowledge about the Internet and It's Working!
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Thanks!
Top comments (7)
Great blog! The information provided here was top notch πͺ
However, I have a doubt. You mentioned that the data travels through submarine cables, right? I wanted to know if you are referring only to wired data or if wireless data is also included. Please clarify my doubt.
P.S. Really loved the Breaking Bad GIF's used in this blog xD
yeah, science, bxxch!π
Lmao π€£
Haha!, Yes Sir!
Thanks for the Feedback Ayaan!
The main context about what I wanted to share was that data travels through these submarine cables and then, reaches our devices via signals like the signals are received by the cell towers, and then, these cell towers send the signal to our devices through electromagnetic waves and hence, our data is received.
I think it applies to the Wireless data also!
Hope it's Clear!
Btw, We learn everyday new things, So feel free to share any point that might be useful for this topic. Maybe it increases my knowledge also!
I think this article is a great idea, there is definitely a somewhat lack of content in regards to the "low-level". Although it may have been the main idea, I am still going to say it. It was a bit over-simplifying.
Still, good job !
This blog post was for beginners that's why I tried to explain it to someone who doesn't know about all these technical terms, in simple language. That's why it's oversimplified!
Btw, It's a pretty good criticism and I love good criticism because it makes me improve the quality of my content!
Thanks for the Feedback Stanislav!