4 - Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture

NaWonal workshop-cum-Tra~nlng on Bioinformatla and Intormation Management in Aquacultu~
FUNDAMENTALS OF THE INTERNET AND
THE WORLD WIDE WEB
C. Chandra shekharl
Abstract
The paper explores the evolution of the Internet to what it is today and how
simultaneously websites have transformed from static electronic brochures to
interactive information kiosks.
1. Evolution of the Internet
You may associate the Internet with electronic mail and business applications -
but it came into being with global thermonuclear war in mind.
The Internet had its genesis more than a quarter of a century ago in the United
States Department of Defense's Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA). It
was envisioned as an experiment to explore the possibility of a disaster-proof
nationwide computer system, where military personnel could share messages
and data no matter where they were or what had happened. It would alleviate
the risk of a centralized control station which could be knocked out, thus shutting
down communication altogether.
In the late 1960s, U.S. government-funded researchers in California working on
the experiment explored ways to allow computers to share information. At that
time, computers were almost totally unable to electronically communicate, and
to move data from one computer to another required physically transporting
punch cards or reels of tape.
In 1969, the research group connected computers at the University of California
Los Angeles, the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California, the
University of California Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah, using what
was then a new networking technology. It enabled computers previously
separated by technological and computer language barriers to share information
with each other. It was the computer equivalent of being able to call across town
and talk to a friend instead of having to leave home, travel there and bring a
translator. The network was named ARPA Network, or "ARPANet."
The network soon began to expand, with more and more university sites coming
on-line across the country, and the technology of how to establish links
spreading. Along with the communication link, researchers had made progress
on the component considered seminal to the Defense Department: making the
network resistant or impervious to intentional disabling.
' Comrpondmce: C. Chardrasekhar, PGDM (XIMB) Managing Director, Catalyst IT Solutions Pvt. Lmt
www.citspl.com