Special Edition Using TCP/IP, Second Edition

Evolution of TCP/IP and the Internet

One of the primal instincts that has contributed to the survival of humankind has been its ability to connect with its environment. This instinct resulted in the creation of primitive family units, tribes, communities, villages, cities, and countries. In the course of time, the human race thrived on its connectivity instinct by linking places with roads, continents with ships, and outerspace with rockets and satellites. The later half of the twentieth century was witness to one of these acts of instinct in the form of linking computers. In the early days of computing, each computer was an island of information that was devoted to processing and providing output to the supplied input. However, when the need ...