Chapter 9. Connecting to the Internet

I'm going to start this chapter with a little Networking 101. It will be fun—really. Those of you who already know everything about TCP/IP and how IP networks operate can skip ahead a few paragraphs.

Communication over the Internet takes place using something called the TCP/IP protocol suite. TCP/IP actually stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, and it is the basic underlying means by which all this magic communication takes place. Everything you do on the Net, whether it is surfing your favorite sites, sending and receiving e-mails, chatting via some instant messaging client, or listening to an audio broadcast—all these things ride on TCP/IP's virtual back.

TCP/IP is often referred to ...

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