Whats the Net without spicy IM chat?

Instant Messaging, to my mind, is the most interesting Internet application. It is a great distracter in office because whenever a contact logs in I spent a minute wondering what time is it in another part of the world and what folks are doing there. At the same time as somebody who has been in customer services for a long long time I know that it is a lifeline: an anxious customer on the call, a helpful colleague on IM is a familiar situation.

So much for pontificating.

In this session we will learn a lot about how IM works. We will sometimes stray into undersatnding of how collaboration systems in general work but largely the discussion is around IM.

Check it out:

http://www.slideshare.net/sanjoysanyal/instantmessagingprotocols/

Content Navigation

So far we have learnt about basics of content delivery: HTTP, streaming media protocols and transport protocol: TCP/IP.

We now need to learn content navigation. How do an user's request for content get to the correct source? How will the content source ensure that it is not overloaded by user requests?

This is a long session and we are going to go over the DNS system as well as content switching and request routing mechanisms.

Do have a look at:

http://www.slideshare.net/sanjoysanyal/content-navigation/

And as usual keep mailing,

Peer to Peer

The fascinating history of the Internet will not be complete unless we mention Peer to Peer networks. This is a short set of slides on basics of Peer to Peer Networks. It includes three case studies of high-profile peer to peer sites.

http://www.slideshare.net/sanjoysanyal/peerto-peer-networks/

Let's nudge a little closer

To understand how content is delivered on the Internet, we will have to understand a bit of how caching works. Caching is getting content closer to the user.

http://www.slideshare.net/sanjoysanyal/caching-techniquesfor-content-delivery-359910

And as usual do provide feedback.

Whats life without a little song and dance?

And what's the Web without a bit of streaming media? Get to understand Protocols used in Streaming Media here:

http://www.slideshare.net/sanjoysanyal/streaming-media-protocols/

I have tried to explain how streaming media works in terms of the "standard" protocols. Mainstream streaming solutions use some modifications of these standard protocols. I have not covereed these in any detail. But I do want to come back to this on a more indepth discussion of streaming media.

Have fun!

Next Step in Internet Protocols: HTTP

We will next learn a bit about HTTP protocols - need I defend why?

Have a look at these slides:

http://www.slideshare.net/sanjoysanyal/http-basics/

Let me know what you think

Get Started with Internet Protocols

We can start on our journey anywhere but one good (and fun) place to start is understanding how the Internet works. Find here a quick introduction to some fundamental netwrking concepts and then we are off to understanding how TCP/IP works.

Have fun and let me know what you do not understand or what you may want to know more about.

http://www.slideshare.net/sanjoysanyal/tcpip-basics

It is time to talk of many things

You are smart. You are intelligent. You know of many things but you never did get to take a deep dive into programming. Now you are in a situation where you have to use information technology. Perhaps you are:

A CXO-type trying to keep pace with a fast changing world
A Sales & Marketing manager in a technology company
A Business analyst working on a client assignment
A Functional Expert working with a software product team
A Civil Engineer working on a E-initiative of your organization
A Doctor working on a Health Information System of your hospital
A Bureaucrat working on a E-Governance project
A Small Business owner trying to expand your business on the Internet

This is your place to start to getting to know the basics. It is not a dictionary of tech terms. It is my attempt to explain – in clear and simple terms – not only what these technologies do but how they work. It assumes that you have been exposed to computers and the Internet. It will help if you have taken at least one college level course in computers and programming.

I will attempt to build this place up with more information as we go on this journey together. If there is something that you are struggling with right now and it is not covered in the material in this site, do write to me at sanjoysanyal@gmail.com and I will try and get a post on it.

So now is the time to talk of many things as in the Lewis Carrol poem:

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings."

We will know soon enough.