The Internet book : everything you need to know about computer networking and how the internet works / Douglas E. Comer.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The internet has arrived -- Getting started: hands-on experience -- Telephones everywhere -- The world was once analog -- The once and future digital network -- Basic communication -- The local area network arrives -- Internet: the early years -- Two decades of incredible growth -- The global internet -- A global information infrastructure -- Packet switching -- Internet: a network of networks -- ISPs: broadband and wireless access -- IP: software to create a virtual network -- TCP: software for reliable communication -- Clients + servers = distributed computing -- Names for computers -- NAT: sharing an internet connection -- Why the internet works well -- Electronic mail -- Bulletin board service (newsgroups) -- Browsing the world wide web -- World wide web documents (HTML) -- Advanced web technologies (forms, frames, plugins, java, javascript, flash) -- Group and personal web pages (wikis and blogs) -- Automated web search (search engines) -- Text, audio, and video communication (IM, VoIP) -- Faces, file transfer, and file sharing (FTP) -- Remote login and remote desktops (TELNET) -- Facilities for secure communication -- Decure access from a distance (VPNs) -- Internte economics and electronic commerce -- The global digital library