Networking

A computer network is a group of two or more computers interconnected to each other electronically. This means that the interconnected computers can communicate with each other I. E. They can share information or resources. The characteristics on which a network can be classified are:

• Medium use to transport data
• Communication protocol use
• Scale
• Topology
• Organizational scope

There are some basic types of computer network which are
Local area network (LAN):
It is used to connect to or more computers within a business or in an office.
A wide area network (WAN):
It connects computers that are distantly placed. It can connect two or more smaller networks together. It is an "internet work". The largest internet work is the internet.

A computer can be a part of number of diverse networks and networks can be a part of larger networks. A small business LAN can be connected to a wan of a larger organization but all the machine connected are able to share internet.

Most operating systems like Microsoft windows, Linux and apple use TCP/IP for networking. We need an apt medium to setup a network which can be wired or wireless.

Wires used for making a network are twisted pair, co-axial or fiber optic. Wireless medium for networking includes microwaves, infrared, Bluetooth, radio waves.

Computer, its peripherals and a medium is adequate for LAN but for wan we required a very of supplementary devices like bridge, gateway or router make communication possible for small or large networks.
All this required protocols. Communication protocols describe the rules and data formats in a computer network for the exchange off all the information. They provide the foundation for network programming. Some renowned communication protocols are Ethernet, link layer and the internet protocol suit which defines a set of protocols for internet working which means that it is used for developing communication between multiple networks and can be used to transfer data between host to host and application specific data transmission formats.

To develop a network we have to choose a proper topology to assemble or place the hardware devices using a medium. Topologies which are normally used are bus topology, tree topology, ring topology, object oriented topology, star topology etc.
Currently star topology and tree topology are well liked.

Computer networking is well thought out to be a branch of electrical engineering telecommunications, information technology, computer engineering or computer science as a computer network totally depends on the theoretical and practical use of all these subjects.