Train Technical English

Number 7 June 2009

Internet structure – Part 1

The Internet is a collection of separate and distinct networks, each one operating under a common framework of the globally unique Internet Protocol addressing (IP addressing) and global Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) routing. IP address is assigned to devices participating in computer networks under Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes. BGP allows fully decentralized routing. Owing to that the Internet functions as a truly decentralized system.

The relationships between Internet networks are generally described by one of the following three categories:

• Transit (or pay) – You pay money to another network for the Internet access.
• Peer (or swap) – Two networks exchange traffic between each other’s customers freely, and for mutual benefit.
• Customer (or sell) – Another network pays you money to provide them with the Internet access.

The Internet is based on the principle of global reach ability. It means that any Internet user can reach any other Internet user as though they were on the same network.

The Internet is extremely heterogeneous, for instance, data transfer rates and physical characteristics of connections vary widely. The Internet exhibits “emergent phenomena” that depend on its large-scale organization. More than one computer can use the Internet through only one its node. It creates the possibility for a very deep and hierarchal based sub-network that can theoretically be extended infinitely.

References: Wilipedia, the free encyclopedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

PS: See more technical texts and discuss them at http://techenglish.wordpress.com

Vocabulary

Exercise 1: Find in the text above synonyms for the following words

Exercise 2: Use the word in capitals given in brackets at the end of each line to form a related word that fits in the space in the same line

Example:

The Internet is … … of separate and distinct networks. [COLLECT]

The Internet is a collection of separate and distinct networks.

1. The relationships between Internet networks are … … described by three categories. [generalize]
2. Transit means you … … money to another network for the Internet access. [payable]
3. Peer means two networks exchange traffic between each other’s customers … … . [free]
4. The Internet is … … on the principle of global reach ability. [basic]
5. Data transfer rates and physical characteristics of … … on the Internet vary widely. [CONNECT]

PS: See keys to these exercises in the next number of The ViCTE Newsletter.

Revise with BBC Continuous verb forms!

Visit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/worldservice/quiznet/quizengine?quiz=123_quiznet

Exercise 1: Fill in gaps in the text with words from the table below

1. Berners-Lee found an enthusiastic collaborator in Robert Cailliau.
2. They pitched their ideas to the European Conference on Hypertext Technology in September 1990.
3. By Christmas 1990 Berners-Lee had built all the tools necessary for working the Web.
4. In May 1991 Paul Kunz visited CERN and was captivated by the Web.
5. Berners-Lee now heads the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Exercise 2: Use the word in capitals given in brackets at the end of each line to form a related word that fits in the space in the same line

1. The first Web pages described the Web project itself. [DESCRIPTION]
2. In May 1991 Paul Kunz brought the CERN software to the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in the USA. [BRING]
3. In SLAC the CERN software was adapted for the VM/CMS operating system on the IBM mainframe. [OPERATE]
4. August 1991 marked the debut of the Web as a publicly available service on the Internet. [SERVE]
5. W3C enable computers on the Web to effectively communicate and store different forms of information. [EFFECT]

Number 6 June 2009

Shortly about the WWW history – Part 2

Berners-Lee found an enthusiastic collaborator in Robert Cailliau. Berners-Lee and Cailliau pitched their ideas to the European Conference on Hypertext Technology in September 1990. But they found no vendors.

By Christmas 1990 Berners-Lee had built all the tools necessary for working the Web: the first Web browser, (which was also a Web editor), the first Web server, and the first Web pages that described the project itself.

In May 1991 Paul Kunz from the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in the USA visited CERN, and was captivated by the Web. He brought the CERN software to SLAC, where it was adapted for the IBM virtual machine operating systems (VM/CMS) on the IBM mainframe. This was the first Web server outside CERN and the first in North America.

On August 6, 1991, Berners-Lee posted a short summary of the World Wide Web project on the hypertext newsgroup. This date marked the debut of the Web as a publicly available service on the Internet. Berners-Lee now heads the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which develops and maintains standards that enable computers on the Web to effectively communicate and store different forms of information.

References:

Wilipedia, the free encyclopedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/

PS: See more technical texts and discuss them at http://techenglish.wordpress.com

Vocabulary (See also the Vocabulary in The ViCTE Newsletter Number 5)

Exercise 1: Fill in gaps in the text with words from the table below

1. Berners-Lee found an enthusiastic … (1) … in Robert Cailliau.
2. They … (2) … their ideas to the European Conference on Hypertext Technology in September 1990.
3. By Christmas 1990 Berners-Lee had … (3) … all the tools necessary for working the Web.
4. In May 1991 Paul Kunz visited CERN, and was … (4) … by the Web.
5. Berners-Lee now … (5) … the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)

Exercise 2: Use the word in capitals given in brackets at the end of each line to form a related word that fits in the space in the same line

Example:

On August 6, 1991, Berners-Lee posted a short summary of the World Wide Web … … on the hypertext newsgroup. [PROJECTION]

On August 6, 1991, Berners-Lee posted a short summary of the World Wide Web project on the hypertext newsgroup.

1. The first Web pages described the Web project itself. [DESCRIPTION]
2. In May 1991 Paul Kunz … … the CERN software to the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) in the USA. [BRING]
3. In SLAC the CERN software was adapted for the VM/CMS … … system on the IBM mainframe. [OPERATE]
4. August 1991 marked the debut of the Web as a publicly available … … on the Internet. [SERVE]
5. W3C enable computers on the Web to … … communicate and store different forms of information. [effect]

PS: See keys to the exercises in the next number of The ViCTE Newsletter.

LEARN HOMONYMS with bbc !

Visit http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/worldservice/quiznet/quizengine?ContentType=text/html;quiz=123_homonyms

PS: A homonym here is one of a group of words that share the same pronunciation but have different meanings.

Keys to exercises in the Newsletter No5, May 2009

Exercise 1: Fill in gaps in the text with words from the table below

1. The World Wide Web is a system of hypertext documents running over the Internet.
2. The Web browser ensures navigation between the Web pages using hyperlinks.
3. The term Web is often mistakenly used as a synonym for the Internet itself.
4. Each new page of information in ENQUIRE had to be linked to an existing page.
5. ENQUIRE was a personal database of people and software models at CERN.

Exercise 2: Use the word in capitals given in brackets at the end of each line to form a related word that fits in the space in the same line

1. The Web was created around 1990 by T. Berners-Lee and R. Cailliau working at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland. [WORK]
2. The Web is a service that operates over the Internet. [OPERATION]
3. The history of the Internet dates back significantly further than that of the Web. [SIGNIFY]
4. Berners-Lee considered problems of information sharing among high-energy physicists from around the world. [INFORMING]
5. Berners-Lee began implementing his system on a newly acquired NeXT workstation. [ACQUISITION]