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Internet protocols
Every form of communication – whether
between people or between computers –requires protocols to support it.
Within the Internet, dozens of such protocols operate simultaneously. The
strength of the Internet protocol suite is that it can be placed on top of
a wide variety of data communication networks, each with its own different
protocols. The key Internet protocols are Transmission Control Protocol
(TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP). TCP splits large messages into smaller
packets or ‘datagram’s’ that can easily be sent from one computer to
another. It also attaches labels to each datagram so that, on arrival, they
can be re-assembled into the original message. IP creates ‘envelopes’
around each datagram and ‘stamps’ them with the addresses of the sending
and receiving computers. Once released, each envelope finds its own way to
the destination. The datagram’s and envelopes are helped on their way by
routers – ‘intelligent’ computers with maps of the network. The key ideas
are that datagram’s travel through the jumble of national and international
communication networks independently, and that there is no lasting
connection between the two communicating computers.
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