The World Wide Web ?

#1
Okay, hmmm in plain easy, non computer language can someone easily explain.....where the World Wide Web or Internet is ? is there one main computer somewhere that everyone logs into ? When we do a search for something....where exactly is it ? And how are we able to connect to it ? same with sending mail....if I send myself mail it leaves my computer...where does it go ? before it comes back to me ? if I send mail to someone else....how does it get there ? I mean I send it out of my computer and before it gets to someone elses computer...where does it go ?
I guess if I was younger I would know these answers...lol
Thanks in advance :)
 
#2
No expert but .... who is your ISP - internet service provider? Do you use Verizon, for example? Then when you send or receive email, it goes through and is stored on their computer server.

VZ's computers communicate with other computer servers who do the same thing - host web content and store files, like email.

It's computers communicating with other computers over phone lines and wireless.

That's what I generally know.
 
#4
Okay, hmmm in plain easy, non computer language can someone easily explain.....where the World Wide Web or Internet is ?
Its called World wide Web because it is indeed all around the world. The word Internet implies that it is a very large interconnected network of networks of computers.

is there one main computer somewhere that everyone logs into ?
This was almost true at the very start of the internet (known as ARPANET or DARPANET) since there was only a a handful of ways to get connected, so the government researchers and military logged into a couple of computers. This is not true anymore.

When we do a search for something....where exactly is it ?
Not unlike a cable/satellite TV box main listing of shows & times, a search engine creates a table of values based on keywords. So the cable TV box stores part of the content of the shows: name of show, time, starring, year, genre, rating (G, PG, ...). A search engine stores part of the content of the web page (keywords, links, sometimes images). Most of the content of a web page is not stored in the search engine and you have to click the link to visit the page to get the real content.

And how are we able to connect to it ?
Its a publicly accessible service that is paid for with advertising dollars

same with sending mail....if I send myself mail it leaves my computer...where does it go ? before it comes back to me ?
to the email server where it gets processed by a email server program and gets examined for the destination and for viruses, since you sent it & you are the destined recipient, it does not send it out to another server and instead delivers it to your inbox.

if I send mail to someone else....how does it get there ? I mean I send it out of my computer and before it gets to someone elses computer...where does it go ?
to the email server where it gets processed by a email server program and gets examined for the destination and for other things like email spam or viruses, then gets forwarded destination's email server, where it gets read & processed by another email server program, then gets placed into the inbox of the recipient


http://communication.howstuffworks.com/email1.htm
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/internet-versus-world-wide-web.htm
http://computer.howstuffworks.com/internet/basics/search-engine.htm
 
#7
Okay, hmmm in plain easy, non computer language can someone easily explain.....where the World Wide Web or Internet is ? is there one main computer somewhere that everyone logs into ? When we do a search for something....where exactly is it ? And how are we able to connect to it ? same with sending mail....if I send myself mail it leaves my computer...where does it go ? before it comes back to me ? if I send mail to someone else....how does it get there ? I mean I send it out of my computer and before it gets to someone elses computer...where does it go ?
I guess if I was younger I would know these answers...lol
Thanks in advance :)
Two words.............Sky Net.
 
Top