23. A brief history of the Internet
TLDRThe provided script offers a comprehensive overview of the history and development of the internet, starting from the late 1950s. It highlights the evolution of communication systems, the creation of ARPA and its role in funding research, and the conceptualization of packet switching by Paul Baran. The script details the establishment of the ARPANET, its transition to a packet-switched network, and the development of the Interface Message Processor (IMP) by BBN. It also discusses the significance of the @ symbol in email addresses, the early structure of the ARPANET, and the use of phone lines as the underlying infrastructure. The lecture touches on the concept of overlays in networking, the development of protocols like TCP/IP, and the importance of open standards in the growth of the internet. It concludes with the emergence of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and the decision by the US Department of Defense to standardize on TCP/IP, emphasizing the internet's growth and the pivotal role of open-source contributions.
Takeaways
- 🌐 **Internet History**: The lecture provides a historical overview of the internet, starting from the late 1950s to modern times, highlighting key technological advancements and players.
- 📡 **Dominance of Telephone Networks**: In the 1950s, telephone networks, led by Bell Telephone Company in the US, were the dominant form of communication, with radio and television broadcast being the primary wireless technologies.
- 🚀 **Sputnik's Impact**: The launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union in 1957 prompted the US to create ARPA (now DARPA), which became a significant funder of research and development in computing and communication technologies.
- 📦 **Packet Switching**: Paul Baran's work at RAND Corporation led to the concept of packet switching, which was pivotal in building reliable communication networks from unreliable components, a foundational aspect of modern computing systems.
- 🔄 **Redundancy in Networks**: The idea of creating highly redundant structures in networks allows for data to be sent in different pieces along various paths, increasing the robustness and reliability of the network.
- 🏗️ **ARPANET's Role**: ARPANET, initiated by Larry Roberts, was the precursor to the internet, designed to allow remote access to powerful and expensive computers, and it adopted packet switching for its network.
- 📨 **Invention of Email**: The first email program that crossed different organizations was developed under the ARPANET project, with Ray Tomlinson at BBN introducing the @ symbol in email addresses.
- 🔗 **Overlay Networks**: Technologies like BitTorrent and Skype are examples of overlay networks built on top of the internet, leveraging the existing infrastructure to cater to specific application needs.
- 🌟 **Internetworking**: Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn led the development of the internetworking protocols, including the IP, which allowed different networks to communicate with each other without requiring changes to each individual network.
- 🔄 **End-to-End Arguments**: The principle that the network should only provide essential services and leave additional functionality to the endpoints is highlighted as a critical design philosophy for network protocols.
- 📈 **Growth and Scaling**: The internet's growth led to the development of hierarchical, topological addressing to manage the increasing number of networks and hosts, which was a shift from the earlier flat addressing schemes.
Q & A
What is the significance of the year 1957 in the history of the internet?
-The year 1957 is significant because it marks the launch of Sputnik, which led to the creation of ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency), now known as DARPA. This agency became a major funder of both fundamental and applied research and development, contributing to the technological advancements that would later shape the internet.
Who is considered one of the fathers of packet switch technologies?
-Paul Baran is considered one of the fathers of packet switch technologies. He worked at the Rand Corporation and focused on creating a survivable communication network that could handle failures, which was a foundational concept for the development of the internet.
What was the primary application that the telephone network of the 1950s was designed to support?
-The primary application that the telephone network of the 1950s was designed to support was voice communication. It was specifically optimized for the act of picking up the phone and talking, making it difficult to support other applications like video streaming or data transfer.
What is the concept of an overlay network?
-An overlay network is a network that is built on top of another network. It uses the underlying network's links to create a virtual or logical network that can appear as a single link in a higher-level network. Overlay networks can be used to optimize or enhance the performance of certain applications or to create a network that is more suited to specific needs.
What was the role of the Interface Message Processor (IMP) in the early ARPANET?
-The Interface Message Processor (IMP) was a separate piece of hardware that was responsible for the computational tasks involved in forwarding packets on the ARPANET. It handled routing table computations and checksum calculations for each packet, essentially performing the networking functions that were too complex for the computers of that era.
How did the early email program that crossed different organizations come into being?
-The early email program that crossed different organizations was developed by BBN as part of the ARPANET project. Ray Tomlinson, an engineer at BBN, introduced the @ symbol in email addresses, which became a standard for specifying the user's name and the host name in email communication.
What was the significance of the ARPANET's four-node connection in 1969?
-The four-node connection in 1969 marked the beginning of the ARPANET, which would later evolve into the modern internet. This event signified the first successful demonstration of a packet-switched network capable of interconnecting different computers and organizations, laying the groundwork for future networking technologies.
What is the 'end-to-end argument' in system design as discussed in the script?
-The 'end-to-end argument' in system design suggests that only features that are essential for the working of a network system should be included in the network itself. Non-essential features should be left to the endpoints, which can provide them based on the specific needs of the applications they are serving.
Why did the US Department of Defense decide to standardize on TCP/IP?
-The US Department of Defense decided to standardize on TCP/IP because it was an open standard. This decision was significant because it meant that the protocol was available for anyone to use and improve upon, without proprietary restrictions, which facilitated its widespread adoption and development.
What is the domain name system (DNS) and why was it introduced?
-The domain name system (DNS) is a service that translates human-friendly domain names (like www.mit.edu) into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the network. It was introduced to replace the outdated system of downloading a host.txt file every night, which was impractical as the internet grew rapidly.
What is the concept of topological addressing and how does it help in scaling the internet?
-Topological addressing is a method of organizing network addresses hierarchically, similar to the postal system. It allows for a more efficient routing system by creating a hierarchy of network areas, with border routers only needing to know how to reach other areas, not the specifics within them. This hierarchical structure enables the network to scale more effectively.
What were the limitations of the original IP addressing system with classes A, B, and C?
-The original IP addressing system with classes A, B, and C had limitations because it used a rigid decomposition of addresses that did not scale well with the growth of the internet. Organizations could not get a precise number of addresses they needed; they had to choose from predefined classes that often allocated more addresses than required, leading to inefficiency and eventual exhaustion of available addresses.
Outlines
📚 Introduction to the History of the Internet
The first paragraph introduces the lecture's focus on the history of the internet, starting from the late 1950s. It emphasizes the importance of understanding the evolution of communication systems and the transition from technologies like the electric telegraph to the telephone network. The lecturer also mentions the establishment of ARPA, which later became DARPA, and its role in funding research that led to the development of packet switching technology by Paul Baran.
💡 The Emergence of Digital Communication Networks
This paragraph discusses the shift from analog to digital technologies in communication networks. It highlights Paul Baran's insights on creating reliable systems from unreliable components using digital abstraction. The text also covers the concept of packet switching, the introduction of the term 'packet' by Donald Davies, and the importance of queuing theory in communication networks, with contributions from Len Kleinrock.
🚀 The Birth of the ARPANET and Email
The third paragraph details the creation of the ARPANET, which was a precursor to the internet. It was designed to allow remote access to powerful computers, with the goal of time-sharing these resources. The paragraph also covers the development of the Interface Message Processor (IMP) by BBN and the significance of the first email program that crossed different organizations, including the introduction of the @ symbol in email addresses by Ray Tomlinson at BBN.
🌐 The Evolution of the ARPANET into the Internet
This paragraph describes the expansion of the ARPANET and its transformation into the modern internet. It discusses the initial four-node network in 1969 and how it grew to connect various institutions across the United States. The text also touches on the use of telephone lines as the underlying infrastructure for the ARPANET and the concept of overlay networks.
🇫🇷 The CYCLADES Network and its Influence
The fifth paragraph gives credit to the CYCLADES network developed in France, which introduced several innovative concepts such as datagrams, sliding window protocols, and time synchronization. These ideas influenced the development of the TCP protocol and are still relevant today. The paragraph also mentions the invention of ethernet at Xerox PARC and its evolution.
🌐 The Open Nature of Internet Protocols
This paragraph emphasizes the importance of open standards in the success of internet protocols. It contrasts the open nature of TCP/IP with proprietary systems like Xerox's PUP and explains how openness facilitated widespread adoption and improvement. The text also discusses the internetworking problem and the various packet switch networks that emerged during the 1970s.
🔄 The Concept of Internetworking and Gateways
The sixth paragraph delves into the concept of internetworking, which was a significant project involving multiple organizations. It credits Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn as key figures who led the development of a system for interconnecting different networks. The text explains Kahn's rules of interconnection, the design of gateways for protocol translation, and the decision to use a single protocol, IP, for the internet.
📈 Addressing the Limitations of IP Addressing
The seventh paragraph discusses the limitations of the initial IP addressing scheme, which anticipated a maximum of 256 networks. It highlights the foresight of Cerf and Kahn in designing a system that could identify both the network and the host within that network. The text also touches on the exponential growth of the internet and the eventual exhaustion of available IP addresses.
🏛️ The Postal System and Topological Addressing
The eighth paragraph introduces the concept of topological addressing, which was inspired by the postal system. It explains the hierarchical organization of the network into areas, each with a unique identifier, and how this system allowed for efficient routing and scalability. The text also covers the three classes of addresses (A, B, and C) and the challenges that arose as the internet grew.
🌟 The Internet's Growth and Standardization
The ninth paragraph describes the rapid growth of the internet in the 1980s and the organizational efforts that supported this expansion. It discusses the appointment of Dave Clark as the internet's chief architect, the establishment of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and the decision by the US Department of Defense to standardize on TCP/IP. The paragraph also mentions significant developments like Project Athena at MIT and the introduction of the domain name system.
🛠️ The National Science Foundation's Role in Internet Development
The final paragraph outlines the National Science Foundation's (NSF) involvement in the creation of the first internet backbone, which aimed to connect universities across the United States. It reiterates the importance of open standards and the selection of TCP/IP as the standard protocol. The text concludes with a mention of future topics to be covered, including congestion control, route hijacking, spam management, and the future of networking and communications.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Creative Commons license
💡MIT OpenCourseWare
💡ARPANET
💡Packet switching
💡Digital abstraction
💡TCP/IP
💡Domain Name System (DNS)
💡Ethernet
💡CYCLADES
💡Internet Protocol (IP)
💡End-to-End Arguments
Highlights
MIT OpenCourseWare offers high-quality educational resources for free, supported by donations.
A quick history of the internet from the late 1950s to the present is provided in the lecture.
The lecture aims to connect topics studied in class with the historical development of the internet.
The electric telegraph and telephone network are discussed as early successful communication systems.
ARPA, now known as DARPA, was created in response to the US falling behind in science and technology post-Sputnik launch.
Paul Baran is recognized as one of the fathers of packet switch technologies, focusing on building a survivable communication network.
The concept of digital communication networks built from unreliable components is introduced.
Donald Davies in the UK is credited with coining the term 'packet' for network messages.
Len Kleinrock's 1961 PhD thesis laid the foundation for using queuing theory to model communication networks.
Licklider and Clark's paper 'On-line Man, Computer Communication' envisioned a global network connecting computers.
ARPANET, the precursor to the internet, was designed to allow remote access to powerful, expensive computers.
BBN built the first email program that crossed different organizations and introduced the @ symbol in email addresses.
The first ARPANET nodes connected in 1969, marking the beginning of the internet.
The ARPANET was an overlay network built on top of the existing telephone network infrastructure.
The CYCLADES project in France contributed groundbreaking ideas such as datagrams and the sliding window protocol.
Ethernet was invented at Xerox PARC, inspired by the Aloha protocol, and featured carrier-sense multiple access.
The internet's growth led to the need for a more scalable addressing system, resulting in the development of topological addressing.
The IETF and the US Department of Defense played significant roles in standardizing and promoting the open TCP/IP protocol.
The domain name system (DNS) was introduced to manage the rapid growth of the internet and facilitate the conversion of domain names to IP addresses.
Transcripts
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