RULES FOR MAKING COMPUTERS BEHAVE |
In their classrooms, teachers use computers in a variety of ways. A lone computer -- not connected to other computers -- enables children to type letters, draw pictures, play instructional games and so on. When computers are linked together or networked, children may access a much wider range of learning opportunities.
Computers may be linked together within a classroom, a school, a school board, or across the world (e.g. the Internet). Regardless of the size of the network that a computer is connected to, there are rules or protocols that govern how the computer exchanges information or communicates with all other computers on the same net.
Rules or protocols are necessary because the way computers talk to each other is unlike more familiar forms of communication. For instance, if you send a letter to someone, here's what happens.
Computers communicate differently. When you send an e-mail message from your computer to another computer, here's part of what happens.
The rules or protocols for computer behaviour ensure that all computers do the splitting up and the reassembling of messages in the same way. If their were no protocols and each computer did its own thing, they wouldn't be able to communicate with each other.
BASIC RULES OR PROTOCOLSAll networked computers conform to a basic protocol with a fancy name:
TCP/IP Which is short for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. Don't let this intimidate! It's just refers to a set of rules computers follow.The TCP part refers to rules for addressing the message packets in the e-mail example above.
The IP part refers to rules for labeling the packets: read me first, read me second and so on.
In fact, all computers follow TCP/IP rules when they exchange things besides e-mail -- for instance: images, text files, and web pages.
RULES FOR SPECIAL OCCASIONSIn addition to rules for basic civilized behaviour, people have rules for special occasions or places. The rules for behaviour in a court room are not the same as those for in a hockey arena. The same is true for computers. Networked computers are required to follow TCP/IP at all times but, when they are asked to do special things, there are additional protocols to follow. The following table attempts to illustrate.
Basic Protocols | Additional Protocols | Explanation |
TCP/IP |
HTTP | HTTP is an additional set of rules to which computers conform when they exchange web pages between browsers such as Netscape or Internet Explorer. |
FTP | FTP is an additional set of rules to which computers conform when they exchange files. | |
PPP | PPP is an additional set of rules to which computers conform when they communicate with each other by modem. |
These are just three of many protocols in addition to the basic TCP/IP. If you think of a new way for computers to communicate, you can ask someone to write a new protocol. To gain acceptance for the new protocol, you would need to ensure that all computers could comply with the new rules while still meeting all others -- including TCP/IP.