RSSInternet
Feb 26
Large, international computer network linking tens of millions of users around the world is called the Internet. It is used daily by many individuals for the main purposes of sending and receiving electronic mail (e-mail), obtaining mountains of information on almost any subject, or to communicate with coworkers on projects. Access to the Internet is obtained only by subscription, and an Internet address is needed to receive a message or to send a message to another Internet user. Such addresses have a specific format that specifies the name of the user, the machine they are working on, and where that machine is located. The Internet began as a network of computers, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, or ARPANET, supported by the U.S. Defense Department. The National Science Foundation (NSF) supplied funding to extend the network to connect research-based supercomputers at various sites across the U.S. By the end of the decade, the Internet had extended to connect countries from around the world. The World Wide Web, an application that gathers resources from the Internet into a series of menu pages, or screens. The advent of the World Wide Web is undoubtedly one reason for the explosion of home computer use experienced at the close of the twentieth century.