The Internet is a computer network that uses open protocols to standardize communication. A computing device connected to an Internet-connected device is required to access the Internet.

A computing system is a group of computing devices and programs working together for a common purpose.

A computing device is a physical object that can run a program, such as computers, tablets, cell phones, and smart sensors.

The World Wide Web is a system of linked pages, programs, and files that uses the Internet.

• A router is a computer that passes information from one network to another.

• Your computer probably uses a router that is somewhere in your home to connect to your ISP.

• ISPs (Internet Service Providers) are the companies who sell Internet access to homes and institutions.

• The computers connected to the Internet and the connections among them don't belong to any one organization. Different ISPs provide the Internet to different communities. And typically within a large organization (such as a university), the Internet connections are provided by the organization itself.

• Storing data in the cloud means storing it somewhere on the Internet, but you don't know where. The cloud service provider (Google, Dropbox, Amazon, Snap!, etc.) manages the actual storage location.

• Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data that can be sent in a fixed amount of time (for digital data, it is measured in bits per second). Higher bandwidth is better because the data will travel more quickly.

A path is a sequence of directly connected computing devices that connect a sender to a receiver.

Routing is the process of finding a path from sender to receiver.

Scalability is the ability of the Internet to keep working as it grows.

Redundancy is the inclusion of back-up elements in case one part fails.

Fault tolerance is the ability of a system to work around problems.

A protocol is set of rules that specify the behavior of a system.

An IP address is a unique number assigned to each device on a computer network.

A packet is a small chunk of any kind of data (text, numbers, lists, etc) and metadata (information about the data) that is passed through the Internet as a data stream.

Packet switching means that the Internet sends short bursts of information, not long continuous strings.

TCP/IP is a pair of protocols that provide two levels of abstraction:

IP (Internet Protocol) lets your computer pretend it has a direct connection to another computer. The routers at every connection point on the Internet run IP, which transmits packets from one IP address to another.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) lets your computer pretend it has a reliable connection to the other computer. The computers (including servers) at the two endpoints of a communication run TCP, which guarantees that packets arrive successfully.

A computer network is an interconnected computing system that is capable of sending or receiving data.