Text 5 the language of e-mail

E-mail is the simplest and most immediate function of the Internet for many people. Run through a list of questions that new e-mail users ask most and some snappy answers to them.

What is electronic mail? Electronic mail, or e-mail as it's normally shortened to, is just a message that is composed, sent and read electronically (hence the name). With regular mail you write out your message (letter, postcard, whatever) and drop it off at the post office. The postal service then delivers the message and the recipient reads it. E-mail operates basically the same-way except that everything happens electronically. You compose your message using e-mail software, send it over the lines that connect the In­ternet's networks and the recipient uses an e-mail program to read the message.

How does e-mail know how to get where it's going? Everybody who's connected to the Internet is assigned a unique e-mail address. In a way, this address is a lot like the address of your house or apartment because it tells everyone else your exact location on the Net. So anyone who wants to send you an e-mail message just tells the e-mail program the appropriate address and runs the Send command. The Internet takes over from there and makes sure the missive arrives safely.

What's this netiquette stuff I keep hearing about? The Net is a huge, unwieldy mass with nо "powers-that-be" that can dictate content or standards. This is, for the most part, a good thing because it means there's no censorship and no one can wield authority arbi­trarily. To prevent this organized chaos from descending into mere anarchy, however, a set of guidelines has been put together over the years. These guidelines are known collectively as netiquette (net­work etiquette) and they offer suggestions on the correct way to interact with the Internet's denizens. To give you a taste of netiquette, here are some highlights to consider.

• Keep your message brief and to the point and make sure you clear up any spelling slips or grammatical gaffes before shipping it out.

• Make sure the Subject lines of your message are detailed enough so they explain what your message is all about.

• Don't SHOUT by writing your missives entirely in upper case letters.

• Don't bother other people by sending them test messages. If you must test a program, send a message to yourself.

What's a flame? The vast majority of e-mail correspondence is civil and courteous, but with millions of participants all over the world, it's inevitable that some folks will rub each other the wrong way. When this happens, the combatants may exchange emotionally charged, caustic, often obscene messages called flames. When enough of these messages exchange hands, an out-and-out flame war develops. These usually burn themselves out after a while, and then the participants can get back to more interesting things.

Is e-mail secure? In a word, no. The Net's open architecture allows programmers to write interesting and useful new Internet services, but it also allows unscrupulous snoops to lurk where they don't belong. In particular, the e-mail system has two problems: it's not that hard for someone else to read your e-mail, and it's fairly easy to forge an e-mail address. If security is a must for you, then you'll want to create an industrial strength password for your home di­rectory, use encryption for your most sensitive messages, and use an anonymous remailer when you want to send something incog­nito.

Text 6

One of the main differences of the Internet from all rest, that is connected to computers, is that for successful work with it (him), generally speaking, it is not necessary of any books. Internet can serve both directory, and tutorial, and encyclopedia itself. However on the initial stage, as it seems, the advantage(benefit) of the book, distinctly and is accessible of a stating basis, can be rather significant. Such book I also have tried to write. But before you will get acquainted to it(her) more close, let's try to answer on the most important question, which, probably, you already set to yourselves: The Internet: that it, at last, such more or less scientific definition of the Internet, which the books and clauses on this subject are filled, certainly with, have the value. But the simplest explanation suffices for our purposes while: the Internet is a set of computers connected with each other by channels of communication (connection), plus a set of standard rules, on which they exchange by the information. Thus channels of communication (connection), perhaps, even are less important, than rule of data transfer on them, named in the Internet by the protocols. If even two computers cooperate on one of such protocols is already present Internet.

The invention and the perfection of modems - special devices allowing the computer to send the information on the phone, - has opened doors in the Internet to huge quantity (amount) of the people, at which is not present. Any special network equipment, and there is only personal computer and telephone socket nearby.

Both Internet and the modems for personal computers exist already rather long. However only at all for a long time - about 1990 - the Internet has typed (collected), at last critical weight of the users and resources necessary for network revolution, occurring on our eyes. The high-speed modems allowing the usual users of personal computers without restrictions to enjoy by all boons of the Internet have appeared even later. And the system World Wide Web (WWW, or "«World wide web"), invented in 1993 and former firstly only by one of many components of a network, has borrowed (occupied) a leading position and began to define (determine) the person of the Internet literally in last years - two. By and large, the world Internet boom now in the heat - and very much was lucky (carried) to you, that you were not late almost to the beginning of performance.

The Internet is first of all huge set of computers and programs. Among last you will find not only such, which are able well to decide (solve) your concrete tasks, but also is greater such, whose abilities it will be firstly complex (firstly difficult) even to present to you, probably. The Internet connection gives you a unique opportunity, what imperfect was your computer to have a look per the twenty first century and independently to accustom with such concepts, as « world cyber – social », « virtual money », « information environment Wednesday habitation». Item - word, with all of subjects, about what so love to write now journalists.

However it only part of the answer on a question « that such the Internet ». The Internet today is not only huge quantity (amount) of computers, but also the improbable quantity (amount) of the people, for which network is an essentially new way of dialogue almost not having of analogues in the material world. The man - essence social, and dialogue with itself similar - one of his (its) first needs (requirements). Perhaps, till now still any technical invention (short of the telephone) does not make such revolution in this ancient as the world employment (occupation) - dialogue of the man with the man.

Certainly, what exactly will interest you in the Internet first of all - people or computers, - depends only on you. The ancient metaphor of the book as models of world, perhaps, deserves reconsideration - now on a role of such model computer approaches much better. When the speech goes about millions computers and their users all over the world, connected in a uniform network, the metaphor this already ceases be simply metaphor. That is why by exaggeration will not tell, that, leave in the Internet, you do (make) for yourselves accessible the whole world.