From the course: Computer Science Principles: The Internet

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Sending and receiving information

Sending and receiving information

From the course: Computer Science Principles: The Internet

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Sending and receiving information

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- Everything that we create on a computer is translated into digital information using bits. This could mean a collection of thousands, millions, or billions of bits, or more, need to have a way to be transmitted over the internet. But, in order to do that, there needs to be a way to take the information and break it down, so we have a reliable way to send it over the network. Every message, file, or stream of information is broken down into small chunks, called packets. When packets are sent on the internet, they usually will travel the network together. But, take a situation like a road trip. If you and your friends are in four separate cars, and you're going down the highway, at a certain point there might be an accident cutting off the route of two people. They might have to take a different route to get to the destination. To help with this, each packet contains some important information inside of it called the header. First, the packet says where it came from. This is like the…

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