This week we learned about networks and electronic communication. I had an understanding of networks before this week and therefore I my understanding of the topic is clear.
In order for any node (network attached device) to communicate with the outside world it has to have a NIC card or Network Interface Controller.
There are a few different types of networks. A PAN or Personal Area Network is the smallest and can be composed of up to 6 nodes. A LAN or Local Area Network is slightly larger and should be a home, building or office. A MAN is a Metropolitan area network and is larger then LAN. It covers a city or another large area. A WAN stands for Wide Area Network and is the largest. An example would be multiple cities or even larger still. The Internet is an example of a WAN.
There are two basic types of network architecture. The most common is client / server. This is when a client ( perhaps a personal computer ) talks to a server. The server serves the data and gives it back to the client. The other types of basic but common network architecture is peer to peer. This is when a personal computer talks directly to another personal computer. An example of this could be the famous Kazaa network.
In combination with the networks that were previously mentioned it should also be noted that a network can be wired or wireless. Most wireless networks are LAN and fairly small. One of the first cities and therefore MAN to go wireless is San Francisco. Here Internet is completely free and wireless.
Thats it for this week!
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