You pop open your laptop, and you begin crafting a well-thought out email.
Then you stop.
You realize that you cannot continue until you understand exactly how a computer works.
You know there’s this thing called “a network,” but beyond that, you’re at a loss.
I found myself here yesterday, and decided that the one way to solve the problem was to figure it out.
A computer network is a system that’s made up of different devices (at least two) which are connected by some sort of communication channels.
The purpose behind networks is the giving and/or receiving of information.
Like any other network, a computer network consists of nodes.
Nodes are the things that make sending and receiving possible. They’re like hubs.
Recently, I heard the analogy that a node was like an airport, and a network was the full-picture of an airline system.
Nodes function, similarly to an airport, because they’re either end-points, or in-betweens.
When you go on a trip, you have a start-point, an end-point, and lay-overs.
In computer terms, a layover would be like called an “intermediary device.” They basically act as in-betweens to the end-goal. For computers intermediary devices are usually helping direct traffic or information. They make sure that things run smoothly and efficiently. In some senses, that’s what layovers do as well.
The whole goal behind computer functionality is to get a task done as efficiently as possible. That requires the computer to receive an input, understand it, and then come up with an output.
Sometimes it’s an incredibly easy ask which one computer can take care of. Other times, though, it’s not something that one computer can do alone.