Introduction to Computer

Applications
Lecture 4: Overview of Computer Networks

Nyalala Innocent

Department of Computer Science

Egerton University
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 • Introduction

• Evolution of Networking

• Types of Computer Networks

• Networking Devices

• Networking Topologies

• The Internet, WWW and E-mail

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• We are living in a connected world. Information is being produced,
exchanged, and traced globally in real time.

• It's possible as almost everyone and everything in the digital world is

interconnected in one way or the other.

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• A group of interconnected two or more similar things or people is
called a network.

• Some examples of networks in our everyday life include:

➢ Social network
➢ Mobile network
➢ Network of computers
➢ Airlines, railway, banks, hospitals network

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• A computer network interconnects two or more computers or computing
devices. Such interconnection allows computers to share data and
resources. A basic network may connect a few computers placed in a
room.

• The network size may vary from small to large depending on the number
of computers it connects. A computer network can include different hosts
(called nodes) like servers, desktops, laptops, and cellular phones.

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• The most basic computer network (which consists of just two
connected computers) can expand and become more usable when
additional computers join and add their resources to those being
shared.

• Apart from computers, networks include networking devices like a

switch, routers, modems, etc.

• Networking devices are used to connect multiple computers in

different settings.

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• For communication, data in a network is divided into smaller chunks
called packets. These packets are then carried over a network.

• Devices in a network can be connected either through wired media like

cables or wireless media like air.

• In a communication network, each device that is a part of a network

that can receive, create, store, or send data to different network routes
is called a node. In data communication, a node can be a device such as
a modem, Hub, bridge, switch, router, digital telephone handset,
printer, computer, or server.
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 • The interconnectivity of computing devices in a network allows us
to exchange information simultaneously with many parties through
e-mail, websites, audio/video calls, etc.

• A network allows sharing of resources. For example, a printer can

be available to multiple computers through a network; multiple
computers can access networked storage.

• People often connect their devices through a hotspot, thus forming

a small personal network.

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• Computers increase your ability to communicate.

• Once you begin working with a computer, you will likely become more
productive.

• However, what do you do with that increased productivity if you are not
connected to anyone?

• Communication requires someone with information and someone on

the other end to share it.

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• The ability to share resources was another reason networks were
created, and it is still one of the main purposes for using networks.

• Let's look at some of the resources that are commonly shared over
computer networks:
❑ Peripherals - additional components that attach to a computer,
called peripherals, like printers, scanners, and speakers, are
purchased and are connected to that computer to expand its use.

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 ❑ Applications - Cost and space savings are achieved when computer
users can centrally store their software applications—the computer
programs (organized sets of computer instructions) that make a user's
computer do what needs to be done.
❑ Storage - people in charge of the networks devised ways to store data
centrally so that it is accessible to any user who needs it. Large amounts
of storage capacity, usually in fast, very powerful computers, were set
up to act as storage locations for data where access to it could be
controlled by the person storing the data
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• In the 1960s, Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET)
commissioned a research project in the U.S. Department of Defence to
connect the academic and research institutions located at different places
for scientific collaborations.

• The first message was communicated between the University of California,

Los Angeles (UCLA) and Stanford Research Institute (SRI). Slowly but
gradually, more and more organizations joined the ARPANET, and many
independent smaller networks were formed
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• There are various types of computer networks ranging from a network
of handheld devices (like cell phones or tablets) connected through
Wi-Fi or Bluetooth within a single room to the millions of computers
spread across the globe.

• Some are connected wirelessly, while others are connected through

wires.

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• Based on the geographical area covered and data transfer rate,
computer networks are broadly categorized as follows:
oPAN ( Personal Area Network)
oLAN (Local Area Network)
oMAN (Metropolitan Area Network)
oWAN (Wide Area Network)

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1. PAN ( Personal Area Network)

• It is a network that connects personal devices like computers, laptops,

mobile phones, smartphones, printers, etc. All these devices lie within
an approximate range of 10 meters. A personal area network may be
wired or wireless.

• For example, a mobile phone connected to a laptop through USB forms

a wired PAN, while two smartphones communicating through Bluetooth
technology form a wireless PAN or WPAN

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2. LAN (Local Area Network)

• It is a network that connects computers, mobile phones, tablets, mice,

printers, etc., placed at a limited distance.

• The geographical area covered by a LAN can range from a single room,
floor, or office with one or more buildings in the same premise, a
laboratory, a school, a college, or a university campus.

• The connectivity is done through wires, Ethernet cables, fiber optics,

or Wi-Fi.

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• LAN is comparatively secure, as only authentic users in the network can
access other computers or shared resources. Users can print documents
using a connected printer and upload/download documents and software
to and from the local server. Such LANs provide short-range
communication with high-speed data transfer rates.

• These types of networks ranges from 1 km to 10km. Data transfer in LAN is

quite high and usually varies from 10 Mbps (called Ethernet) to 1000 Mbps
(called Gigabit Ethernet), where Mbps stands for Megabits per second.
Ethernet is a set of rules that decides how computers and other devices
connect through cables in a local area network or LAN.
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3. MAN (Metropolitan Area Network)

• Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) is an extended form of LAN which

covers a larger geographical area like a city or a town.

• The data transfer rate in MAN also ranges in Mbps, but it is considerably
less than LAN. Cable TV networks or cable-based broadband internet
services are examples of MAN.

• This kind of network can be extended up to 30-40 km. Sometimes, many

LANs are connected to form MAN.

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4. WAN (Wide Area Network)

• Wide Area Network connects computers and other LANs and MANs, which
are spread across different geographical locations of a country or in
different countries or continents. A WAN could be formed by connecting a
LAN to other LANs via wired/wireless media.

• Large business, educational, and government organizations connect their

different branches in different locations across the world through WAN.

• The Internet is the largest WAN that connects billions of computers,

smartphones, and millions of LANs from different continents.
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1. Modem - Modem stands for 'MOdulator DEModulator.' It refers to a
device used to convert analog signals and digital bits. We know
computers store and process data in terms of 0s and 1s.

However, to transmit data from a sender to a receiver, or while browsing

the Internet, digital data are converted to an analog signal, and the
medium (be it free space or physical media) carries the signal to the
receiver.
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2. Ethernet Card - Ethernet card, also known as Network Interface Card
(NIC card in short), is a network adapter used to set up a wired
network.

It acts as an interface between a computer and the network.

It is a circuit board mounted on the motherboard of a computer.

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3. RJ45 Connector - RJ 45 or Registered Jack-45 is an eight-pin
connector used exclusively with Ethernet cables for networking.

• It is a standard networking interface that can be seen at the end of all

network cables.

• It is a small plastic plug that fits into the RJ-45 jacks of the Ethernet
cards in various computing devices.

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4. Repeater - Data are carried in the form of signals over the cable.
These signals can travel a specified distance (usually about 100 m).

• Signals lose their strength beyond this limit and become weak. In such
conditions, original signals need to be regenerated.

• A repeater is an analog device that works with signals on the cables

connected to it.

• The weakened signal appearing on the cable is regenerated and put

back on the cable by a repeater.

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5. Hub - An Ethernet hub is a network device that connects different
devices through wires.

• Data arriving on any of the lines are sent out on all the others.

• The limitation of Hub is that if data from two devices come

simultaneously, they will collide.

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6. Switch - A switch is a networking device that plays a central role in a
Local Area Network (LAN).

• Like a hub, a network switch connects multiple computers or

communicating devices.

• When data arrives, the switch extracts the destination address from
the data packet and looks it up in a table to see where to send the
packet.

• Thus, it sends signals to selected devices instead of all.

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7. Router - A router is a network device that can receive data, analyze it
and transmit it to other networks.

• A router connects a local area network to the Internet.

• Compared to a hub or a switch, a router has advanced capabilities as it

can analyze the data being carried over a network, decide/alter how it
is packaged, and send it to another network of a different type.

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• A router can be wired or wireless. A wireless router can provide Wi-Fi
access to smartphones and other devices. Usually, such routers also
contain some ports to provide wired Internet access.

• These days, home Wi-Fi routers perform the dual task of a router and a
modem/ switch.

• These routers connect to incoming broadband lines from ISPs (Internet

Service Providers) and convert them to digital data for computing
devices to process.

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• 8. Gateway - As the term "Gateway" suggests, it is a key access
point that acts as a "gate" between an organization's network and the
outside world of the Internet.

• The gateway serves as the entry and exit point of a network, as all data
coming in or going out of a network must first pass through the
gateway to use routing paths

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• We have already discussed that several computing devices are
connected to form a Local Area Network (LAN), and interconnections
among millions of LANs forms the Internet.

• The arrangement of computers and other peripherals in a network is

called its topology.

• Common network topologies are

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 ✓ Mesh,
✓ Ring,
✓ Bus,
✓ Star
✓ Tree

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1. Mesh Topology

• In this networking topology, each communicating device is connected

to every other device in the network.

• Such a network can handle large amounts of traffic since multiple

nodes transmit data simultaneously.

• Also, such networks are more reliable because even if a node gets
down, it does not cause any break in data transmission between other
nodes.
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• This topology is also more secure than other topologies because each
cable between two nodes carries different data.

• However, wiring is complex, cabling cost is high in creating such

networks, and there are many redundant or unutilized connections.

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2. Ring Topology

• In a ring topology, each node is connected to two other devices, one

on either side.

• The nodes connected thus form a ring.

• The link in a ring topology is unidirectional.

• Thus, data can only be transmitted in one direction (clockwise or

counterclockwise).

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3. Bus Topology

• In a bus topology, each communicating device connects to a transmission

medium, known as a bus.

• Data sent from a node are passed on to the bus and hence are transmitted
to the length of the bus in both directions. That means that any nodes
connected to the bus can receive data.

• In this topology, a single backbone wire called a bus is shared among the
nodes, which makes it cheaper and easier to maintain. Both ring and bus
topologies are less secure and less reliable.
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4. Star Topology

• In star topology, each communicating device is connected to a central

node, a networking device like a hub, or a switch.

• Star topology is considered very effective, efficient, and fast, as each

device is directly connected to the central device.

• Although disturbance in one device will not affect the rest of the
network, any failure in a central networking device may lead to
complete network failure.

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• The central node can be either a broadcasting device means data will
be transmitted to all the nodes in the network, or a unicast device
means the node can identify the destination and forward data to that
node only.

• What is the examples of broadcasting and unicast devices?

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5. Tree Topology

• Also known as Hybrid Topology. It is a hierarchical topology with

multiple branches, and each branch can have one or more basic
topologies like a star, ring, and bus.

• Such topologies are usually realized in WANs where multiple LANs are
connected.

• Those LANs may be in the form of a ring, bus, or star.

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In this type of network, data transmitted from the source first reaches the
centralized device, and from there, the data passes through every branch,
where each branch can have links for more nodes.
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• DEFINITION: The Internet is global ― Network of Networks.

• The Internet connects millions of people through a collection of computer

networks.

• The Internet is a worldwide public network of computers on which people

can join and use multiple services such as sharing of information.

• Internet users at any one computer can get information from any other
computer.
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• The Internet is the global network of computing devices, including
desktops, laptops, servers, tablets, mobile phones, handheld devices,
printers, scanners, routers, switches, gateways, etc.

• Moreover, smart electronic appliances like TV, AC, refrigerator, fan,

light, etc., can also communicate through a network.

• The list of such smart devices is always increasing, e.g., drones,

vehicles, door locks, and security cameras.

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• The Internet is evolving daily, and it is difficult to visualize or describe
every aspect of its architecture.

• Computers are connected to a modem through a cable or wirelessly

(Wi-Fi). That modem, wired or wireless, is connected to a local
Internet Service Provider (ISP) and then connects to a national
network.

• Many such ISPs form a regional network, regional networks connect,

forming a national network, and country-wide networks form the
Internet backbone.
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• The Internet today is a widespread network, and its influence is no
longer limited to the technical fields of computer communications.

• It is being used by everyone in society, as is evident from the

increasing use of online tools for education, creativity, entertainment,
socialization, and e-commerce.

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• The World Wide Web (WWW) or Web is an ocean of information
stored in the form of trillions of interlinked web pages and web
resources. The resources on the Web can be shared or accessed
through the Internet.

• The World Wide Web consists of documents called Web pages that
contain information on a particular topic. A Web page might also
contain one or more links that point to other Web pages

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• Link: A reference to another document in an environment like the World
Wide Web that users can go to directly by clicking on the on-screen
reference with the computer's mouse.

The three fundamental technologies that lead to the creation of the Web:

• HTML – HyperText Markup Language. It is a language used to design

standardized Web Pages so that the Web contents can be read and
understood from any computer.

• The basic structure of every webpage is designed using HTML.

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• URI – Uniform Resource Identifier. It is a unique address or path for
each resource located on the Web.

• It is also known as Uniform Resource Locator (URL). Every page on the

Web has a unique URL. Examples are:
• https://www.google.co.ke
• https://www.facebook.com
• https://www.egerton.ac.ke - Egerton is the domain name
• https://mfa.go.ke - Ministry of Foreign Affairs
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• URL is sometimes also called a web address.

• However, a URL is not only the domain name.

• It contains other information that completes a web address

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• HTTP – The HyperText Transfer Protocol is a set of rules to retrieve
linked web pages across the Web. The more secure and advanced
version is HTTPS.

• Many people confuse the Web with the Internet.

• The Internet, as we know, is a huge global network of interconnected

computers, which may or may not have any files or webpage to share
with the world.

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• On the other hand, the Web is the interlinking of Webpages on these
computers accessible over the Internet.

• WWW today gives users access to a vast collection of information

created and shared by people across the world.

• It is today the most popular information retrieval system.

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• Home page: The main page of a Website.

• Typically, the home page serves as an index or table of contents to

other documents stored at the site (that is, the address).

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Website: A location on the World Wide Web.

• A home page is like a book's title page and table of contents. It

identifies the site and contains links to other pages at the site.

Web browser: is Software used to display Web pages.

• Internet explorer is an example of a web browser. Here are some types

of web browsers:

• Internet explorer • Firefox • Chrome • Safari •and Opera.

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• The Web browser is the gateway to commercial information services
and free sites on the Internet.

• Users can find information on the Web by using a search engine.

• Several Web sites provide search facilities, and the Internet Service
Provider will link to these sites.

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• Search engine: A program that searches documents - files for specified
keywords and returns a list of documents where the keywords were found.

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• Electronic Mail (e-mail) is a system that allows computer network
users to send messages to each other. Users can usually:
❖ Send a message to another user or group of users.

❖ Keep their messages in a mailbox.

❖ Read, print, and delete messages from their mailbox

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• It is not only typewritten messages that can be sent using Electronic
Mail. Pictures, music, videos, and almost any information you can think
of, can also be sent.

• Each user must have an address that other users need to know to send
messages to them.

• Electronic mail is good because it is much faster than ordinary post.

• It is also very accessible since you can read your e-mail on any suitable
computer anywhere in the world.

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• Many e-mail service provider companies allow any user to send and
receive electronic mail, like Hotmail, Yahoo, Gmail,

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1. Find out the advantages (positive impacts) and disadvantages (negative
impacts) of Computer networks.

2. How will a Bus and Ring topology behave if a Node is down?

3. Find out the advantages and disadvantages of the different types of

Network topologies.

4. What is the difference between Internet, Extranet and Intranet?

5. What are some of the services provided by the WEB?

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