ICT101
Computing Skills
Fundamentals
Lecture 05 – Introduction to
the Internet
Department of Computer Science
B. Gopolang (247-275)
Previous Lesson
• Files:
• Naming
• Attributes: viewing/changing
• Folder and folder manipulation
• File management tips
• File backup
• File system
• Pathnames
2
Learning Objectives
At the end of the lecture, students should be able to:
• Understand how the internet works
• Appreciate that you can access the internet almost
everywhere in the world, provided you have the
necessary resources
• Perform basic and advanced searches of information on
the internet
• Use email service to send and receive messages
• Use chatting and discussion forum services
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1. The Internet
• A global network connecting millions of computers.
• A global system of interconnected computer networks that
use the standard Internet Protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link
several billion devices worldwide.
• An international network of networks consisting of millions of
private, public, academic, business, and
government networks, linked by a broad array of
electronic, wireless, and optical networking technologies.
• AKA The Net, Info. Superhighway, Cyberspace.
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2. Internet penetration
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3. Who owns the Internet?
• No one, and no single person or organization controls
the Internet in its entirety
• More of a concept than an actual tangible entity
• Relies on a physical infrastructure that connect
networks to other networks
• History of the Internet begins with the development
of electronic computers in the 1950s (wikipedia)
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4. Intranet vs. Extranet
• Intranet: Computer
network that uses IP
technology within an
organization to share
information, operational
systems, or computing
services
• Extranet: Same as above
except that it is a network
between organizations. 7
5. Internet services
• Lots of internet services
• Common ones are
• World Wide Web (WWW)
• E-Mail
• Chatting
• Discussion Forums
• etc
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a) World Wide Web (WWW)
• Defn:
• An information-sharing
model built on top of the
Internet.
• A system of interlinked
hypertext documents that are
accessed via the Internet
• www ≠ internet
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i) Web Browser
• Commonly referred to as a Browser
• Application for retrieving, presenting and traversing
information resources on the World Wide Web. (surfing)
• Information resource on the WWW is identified by a
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
• E.g: web page, image, video or other piece of content.
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• Uses a client-server model
• Browser
• Client software running on a computer
• Contacts Web server to request for information
• Web server:
• Connected somewhere on the internet
• Sends requested information back to the Web browser
• Browser: Displays results on the client computer or
another Internet-enabled device that supports a
browser. 11
Browser examples
Commonly used browsers • Most commonly used to
access information on the
web
• BUT can also be used to
access information hosted
on Web servers in
private networks such as
intranets.
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Web browser features
• Retrieves information and displays it
• Bookmarks/Favourites
• History file
• Start/home/default page
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ii) URL
• URL: A global address of documents and other WWW
resources
• Comprised of 3 parts
• Network protocol (protocol identifier: protocol to use)
• Protocol: communication rules between computers
• URL protocols include http://, ftp://, and mailto://
• Host name or address (domain name: resource location)
• Resource location (www resource)
• 3 parts separated by special characters as follows:
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• protocol :// host / location
Examples
• http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2396.txt 15
Another example
• Protocol
http:// •www.cnn.com
Domain • Pathname
/a/first.htmto
Name file (location)
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iii) Website
• Collection of one or more web pages grouped under the
same domain name.
• web site address. E.g. www.ub.bw
• Accessed by entering a Uniform Resource Locator
(URL)
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• E.g. UB website
• Home page
• Other pages,
• e.g. Library
webpage
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iv) Webpage
• A document that is accessible through the Internet or
other networks using a browser.
• Commonly written in HyperText Markup Language
(HTML)
• Could be static or dynamic 19
Static webpages
• Delivered exactly as stored
• Displays same info for all users, all the times
• Easily created
• No programming skills required
• Cacheable
• No need for web server
• .html files
• E.g. a student’s personal profile page
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Dynamic webpages
• Prepared with fresh content or layout for each view
• Changes with time, user, user interaction, context
• Client-Side scripting
• e.g. JavaScript (presentation)
• Server-Side scripting
• e.g. ASP (Active Server Pages), PHP (HyperText
PreProcessor)
• E.g. online store: different prices, reviews, user
information
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v) Useful concepts
• Hypertext: text displayed on a monitor or with
references (hyperlinks) to other text which the reader can
immediately access
• Hyperlink: a reference to data that the reader can
directly follow either by clicking or by hovering mouse
• Hypertext Markup Language (HTML): An authoring
language used to create documents on the World Wide Web.
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• Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
• An application protocol for distributed, collaborative,
hypermedia information systems.
• The foundation of data communication for WWW.
• File Transfer Protocol (FTP):
• Network protocol used to transfer files from one host to
another over a TCP-based network, e.g. the Internet.
• FTP is built on a client-server architecture
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vi) Internet Security Protocols
• HTTPS: a web security policy mechanism whereby a web
server declares that complying web browsers are to
interact with it using only a secure connection
• Secure socket layer (SSL): a standard security protocol
for establishing an encrypted link between a server and a
client.
• Enables secure transmission of sensitive data. E.g. credit
card numbers, Omang numbers and login credentials
• Advanced Encryption Standard (AES): an encryption
algorithm for securing sensitive data over the internet
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• Firewall: A system designed to prevent
unauthorized access to or from a private network.
• Frequently used to prevent unauthorized Internet users
from accessing private networks connected to the Internet
e.g. intranets.
• All messages entering or leaving the intranet pass
through the firewall for examining
• It blocks all messages that do not meet the
specified network security criteria
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vii) Mobile browsers
• AKA microbrowsers
• Designed for web access through mobile devices
• Mobile browsers are
• "stripped down" versions of everyday browsers
• Have fewer features to run well on mobile devices.
• Optimized to display web content on
• smaller mobile device screens
• with far less computing power
• and memory compared to desktop or laptop.
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◦ Egs: Chrome, Firefox, Opera Mini, Safari, Links.
viii) Search engines
• Software designed to search for/locate information on
the internet
• Many out there …
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Search engine market share –2020
Source:
https://celadormedia.com/blog/google-vs-yahoo-vs-bing/
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ix) Search results
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Search Engine Tips
• Questions you should ask when using a web page
(especially for school work)
• Who is the author or sponsor?
• What authority/expertise do they have?
• What is the purpose/scope of the page?
• Is it current? When was it last updated?
• How complete and accurate is the information? (Any
bias?)
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• We normally search using exact words and phrases
• How can you narrow your search?
a) Using a set of words or symbols
• E.g. put phrases in quotation marks
• “University of Botswana”
b) Using wildcards: Use ‘*’as a placeholder for any
unknown characters/terms.
• E.g.: train* train, trains, trained, training, trainer,
trainline, … 31
c) Using Search operators-
• words or symbols that can be added to help narrow down
the search
• AND: find 2 words together. E.g. climate AND change
• OR : climate change OR global warming will find pages
that have either “climate change” or “global warming”
• - sign: exclude words. e.g. University - Botswana
• + sign: include words. e.g. broom + stick
• Check http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10-things/10-
tips-for-smarter-more-efficient-internet-searching/ 32
b) Email services
• Most commonly referred to as email or e-mail
• Abbreviation for electronic mail
• First email sent in 1971 by Ray Tomlinson to himself
• Test messages were entirely forgettable. . . .
• Requires an account on a mail server and supporting
software on you PC
• Basic email Features
• Send, Compose, Reply and Forward
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Where to get an email account
• School/workplace (e.g. UB)
• Internet Service Providers (e.g. Orange)
• Free online email services, egs:
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Basic email structure: composing an
email
• Addressing part
• To: email addresses of recipients
• Carbon Copy (CC): Email addresses to copy the
message to.
• Can see original recipients and are visible to intended
recipients
• Blind Carbon Copy (BCC): Email addresses to send a
blind copy of the email
• Cannot see other recipients and are also not visible to
intended recipients 35
• Subject
• Message title/headline
• Main Body
• Message text
• Signature
• Information about sender that is automatically added to
outgoing message e.g. name and phone number
• Attachments
• Files e.g. pictures, sounds, text files, etc.
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Email parts - Example
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c) Chatting
• Chat goes on in real-time
• Content could be a combination of text, audio, video &
images
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d) Discussion Forum
• Web-based collection of messages generated by people
with common interests.
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Summary
• The internet, owner & its penetration
• Intranet vs extranet
• Internet services
• WWW
• Email
• Chatting services
• Discussion forums
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Next lesson
• Introduction to Word Processing
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Q&A
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