about

TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol / net Protocol. TCP/IP is a set of rules that govern how web browsers and net servers that host sites connect to the net. It also forms the basis for how web browsers and net servers communicate with one another and send the HTML files for a web-site to the your computer. Also, your e-mail client program makes use of TCP/IP to connect to the net and retrieve your messages from an e-mail server.

When using the net, whether it be the net or a local intranet in an office, you are either using TCP, IP, or both. TCP is used for communication between applications. When you are using an application and require to connect to another application, your computer makes use of TCP to send a request to communicate with the other application. Once the request is accepted by the other application, a permanent connection is established between the two applications, which allows an exchange of information or information to happen. The connection created by TCP is continuous; it does not terminate until the connection is turned off by one of the two applications.

So, how do TCP and IP work together to make surfing the net feasible? TCP takes care of the communication between your web browser and the program that establishes the connection to the net. This connection between your browser and the net is permanent. If this connection were to suddenly cease, you would no longer be able to connect to a web-site.

IP, on the other hand, is a different kind of protocol. IP is a temporary communication that takes place between two computers in order to send information or information. For example, when you connect to a web-site, you send a request to the host computer to send the files for that net site to your web browser. The host computer then replies to your request by sending the full net site to you. Once this exchange is complete, the connection terminates. So, with IP, there is no permanent connection between each of the two devices.

IP is then used by your web browser to communicate with the computer that is hosting the net site you are trying to access. When you try to connect to a sure net site, you use IP to request that the host send the contents of that net site back to your computer. The host computer then complies with the request by using TCP to compartmentalize the net site in to smaller packets that are then transmitted back to your computer.

To summarize, you use TCP to establish a permanent connection between your web browser and the program that connects you to the net, and that connection does not cease until you close the computer program that is maintaining the connection. You use IP to fetch the net site from the host computer, and once the host has finished using TCP to break the net site down in to smaller parts (packets) so that it can be sent back to your computer using IP, the information is then sent to your computer and the IP connection ends. When you exit that net site and connect to a different site, the routine starts all over again, and is repeated every time you connect to a second hand net site.