Com 125 Assignment #2: TCP/IP

So, the inner-workings of our beloved Internet is much more confusing than I could have ever imagined. I won't say I'm surprised...more like 'mind-numbingly startled'.

In perusing the web for a particular topic to cover, I decided that the "computer language" of TCP/IP was an interesting idea. In layman's terms, TCP/IP is a basic communication system set up between two computers connected by the Internet. Each computer has a device called a router, which can send and receive documents and information from its partner that it is connected to by using this basic protocol. Easy enough, right? This technology was developed by an organization called DARPA in the 1970's, but primarily worked on by Robert E. Kahn and Vinton Cerf (Wikipedia). So thank them when you get a chance. We would be very unhappy and unconnected without them.

Now, TCP/IP is made up by two different "layers". TCP is known as the "higher" layer, and IP has been dubbed as the "lower" layer. So, the TCP layer, short for Transmission Control Protocol, takes the message that you are trying to send to the other router across the Internet, and breaks it down into smaller pieces called "packets". Once the message reaches its destination, the second router's TCP layer will reassemble the pieces.

The way I think about it, this process by the TCPs is like that scene in the original Willy Wonka movie when the kid, Mike, who likes television too much is killed off. He gets shot at by a laser, and then you see millions of particles buzzing over the other people's heads. Then he gets reassembled in a tiny TV. So that is kind of like TCP, minus the creepiness of Gene Wilder, as Willy Wonka and his minions, the Oompa Loompas of Loompaland. The laser represents the source router, Mike's particles represent the message being the broken down by the TCP, and the television that he was sent into acts as the receiving router. Are you with me? Good.

IP on the other hand, which is short for Internet Protocol, and handles the address to which the packets are headed. So when the router instantaneously sends out its broken down message, thanks to the TCP, the IP takes care of actually sending the message or document to the right address.

But how does my computer know where to send these packets? Well self, every computer has its own unique IP address when it connects to the Internet. These addresses are made up by 4 numbers that are separated by a period. An example of this might look like 123. 45. 6. 78. To make this address easier to remember and more user-friendly, technicians developed the concept of the domain name, like www.blogger.com. Domain names are just the IP address numbers as assigned words (Source). Your specifically assigned IP address is used by TCP/IP to send messages and receive messages from others.

TCP/IP is a vital application to the Internet and world wide web. Without it, it would seem as though messages could not be sent or received between two computers. This means no e-mail, no websites, not even web browsers would exist (Source). Bad news bears, my friends. To me, this seems like one of the most, if not the most vital part of the Internet. No computer would be able to communicate to another without this technology, and what would be the point of that? Sure, other unbelievable advances in the realm of the Internet have come up over the era of it's existence, but this basic system of computer language is completely imperative to the web.

God bless TCP/IP. Kahn and Cerf for the White House '08.