A NET FOR ALL, AND A WEB TOO

The years 1989-96 was another pivotal period for what was effectively known as the Internet, stressing the fact that the original ARPANET had been followed by myriad of fast growing sub-networks operating in the U.S. and internationally. In 1989 the ARPANET was decommissioned, and in April 1995 the NSFNET reverted back to a pure research network, leaving a number of private companies to provide Internet backbone connectivity. At the same time the number of hosts as well as the network traffic grew at an enormous rate.

This veritable explosion in network use, apart from the fact that the personal computer became a household item in the same span of time, can be attributed to the result of a research proposal submitted to the funding authorities of the European Laboratory for Particle Physics in Switzerland, CERN (a French abbreviation for Conseil Europeen pour la Recherche Nucleaire). The title was "WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a HyperText Project," and the authors were Tim Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau.

The World-Wide Web (also known as the WWW or Web) was conceived as a far more user-friendly and navigationally effective user interface than the previous UNIX-based text interfaces. The communications protocol devised for the WWW was termed HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol), hypertext being a navigational tool, linking data objects, be it text or graphics, together by association in what is effectively a web of pages, hence the use of the term "World-Wide Web." Berners- Lee and Cailliau describe the process as follows: "A hypertext page has pieces of text which refer to other texts. Such references are highlighted and can be selected with a mouse....When you select a reference, the browser [the software used to access the WWW] presents you with the text which is referenced: you have made the browser follow a hypertext link."

The WWW prototype was first demonstrated in December 1990, and on May 17, 1991 the WWW began to work due to granting HTTP access to a number of central CERN computers. As soon as browser software became available for the more common operating systems such as Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh, this new tool was immediately picked up by the Internet community.

The World-Wide Web, the simplicity of Internet access for private individuals, as well as the increasing user-friendliness of the software necessary to master the Internet protocols contributed to the meteoric rise of network use in the 1990s.

Browsing through the original WWW proposal reveals an irony very characteristic to the development of the Internet, in the face of its author's assertion that "the project will not aim to do research into multimedia facilities such as sound and video." In 1996 the present and future of the Internet, and the WWW in particular, points to a convergence of media types, and multimedia has indeed become the catch phrase of the day. Despite serious limitations in contemporary network capacity as far as to sound and video, new technologies constantly enable the increase of interactive network experiences. This development is supplemented by a constant innovation in hardware; today's Internet backbones transmit data packets at a speed up to 200 megabits per second (by comparison, the NSFNET backbone of 1986 ran at the blazing speed of 56 kilobits per second). Today the modems of most Internet users run at a speed of 28.8 kbit/s and a digital connection can deliver at a speed of up to 128 kbit/s, but the possibility of using the fiber optic cables bringing cable TV to millions of homes, for Internet data transmission opens up for private connections running at a speed of up to 10 Mbit/s. Another new technology, ASDL, promises to use the existing telephone copper wires for even higher transmission speeds.

But what will these network technologies deliver to the Internet user? In 1996 commercial Internet hosts have overtaken educational and governmental applications and these commercial interests clearly consider the Internet, and the WWW in particular, as a vehicle for online advertising and commerce. Hence the Net user of today can be described as a consumer. The Internet is still a powerful medium for communication, and has in many ways fulfilled the vision of interactive computing which fueled J.C.R Licklider's imagination, but it remains to be seen whether it will be the democratizing medium of the 21st century, or merely become another static- filled television channel.

8.Explain the terms:

2. Modem, short for Modulator-Demodulator, is an electronic device which translates digital information produced by a computer into analog sounds which can be sent down telephone lines.

3. Everybody knows development as gradual growth of something so that it gets more advanced: e.g., "industry development". But there is another meaning of the word, which is an act or the result of making a product or design performed: e.g.: "This group of scientists is known for their significant developments of computer software".

9.Translate the following words and word-combinations into Ukrainian:

Device; floppy disk; diskette; to seal; protective jacket; openings; spindle hole; to permit; content; flexible; metalized; magnetically coated; to allow; direct access; sequential access; previously; equipment; to spin; functions; single disk drive; dual disk drive; to increase; convenience; inserting; removing.

10.Translate the following sentences into Ukrainian paying attention to the Modal Verbs:

You should carry out this experiment using the technique developed in our laboratory. 2. Everyone must do his duty. 3. I have to do some extra work now because one of my colleagues is having a holiday and I Have taken over his part of our joint research. 4. We can carry out this experiment now because we have all the necessary equipment. Last year we did not have it and therefore could not do the job. 5. May I take your pen for a minute?- Yes, off course, you may.

11.Supply Modal Verbs or equivalents in the correct forms:

We… to go the plant with Mr. Brown this Monday, but he hasn’t arrived in Kyiv yet. We… to go to the plant next week. 2. There is no stop near this building, you…to get off at the next stop. 3. These things are not duty-free. You …to pay duty on them. 4. If you don’t leave now, you …not to come to the concert on time. 5. When …the Sellers to deliver the goods? 6. We… to reserve accommodation for Mr. Brown tomorrow. 7. As the Buyer … not provide shipping facilities the Seller… to deliver the goods on GIF terms.

Date: 2015-12-11; view: 1210