The Internet

The Internet is a global network that today interconnects billions of computers worldwide. Its origin dates back to research done for the US government, but today everybody can get on the Internet, using its standard set of protocols, commonly referred to as TCP/IP (the IP here being Internet Protocol).

Every computer or device that is connected to the Internet will have a unique Internet address, aka IP address. It is a set of 4 numbers separated by dots, for example, 192.25.13.90. Of course, you will never tell your friend that you bought something at 192.25.13.90 but at, for instance, www.amazon.com. This is because the Internet also uses a feature that translates IP addresses into easier to remember domain names. The example I used happens to be a website you can go to and buy things from a practice that we all know has caused the www to become what it is today.

The Internet and the www are, in everyday speech, treated as if they are synonyms but they are indeed not. There are a lot of different services provided on the Internet (by companies called Internet Service Providers (ISP)), and that was already the case before the www existed (for example, giving you access to electronic mail). What it took for the www to emerge was (just like in JavaScript) a series of asynchronous events. Two of those are too important to not mention.