ScienceVerseLearning path: Networks
The concepts to learn before Networks, in order. Each step links to its page and, where one exists, its quiz.
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Your path
- ComputersDirect prerequisite
A computer is a device that takes in digital data, processes it by following a program of instructions, stores it and produces results. Inside, everything is represented as bits, each either 0 or 1. Most computers still follow the organisation John von Neumann described in 1945: a processing unit, a control unit, a memory that holds both instructions and data, and input and output.
- NetworksYour goal
A computer network links devices so they can exchange data, over copper cable, radio (wireless LANs) or optical fibre. Data travels as packets, each carrying addresses, and is handled by a stack of protocol layers from the physical link up to applications. Routers join separate networks together by forwarding each packet on its own, while the end devices keep track of reliability.
Where to go next
Concepts that build directly on Networks:
- Internet: The Internet is a global network of networks that moves data between computers as independent packets using the Internet Protocol (IP), with addresses of 32 bits (IPv4) or 128 bits (IPv6). Protocols layered on top add reliability (TCP) and human-friendly names (DNS). The World Wide Web is not the Internet: it is one service that runs on it — linked resources identified by URIs and fetched with HTTP, invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.