Programming instructions

4 Chapter 1 Introducing ColdFusion MX
The Internet and related technologies
ColdFusion MX is tightly integrated with the Internet and the World Wide Web. For a
better understanding of ColdFusion MX, the following sections provide a basic
description about the Internet and its related technologies.
The Internet
One way to think of the Internet is to picture it as a wide-area network that spans
multiple geographic locations. Each location in this enormous network is comprised of a
group of computers that are relatively close in proximity to each other and are connected
by hardware and cabling.
Users communicate from one location to another using a communication protocol
known as IP (Internet Protocol). This protocol, running on each computer connected to
the Internet, ensures that communication breakdowns do not occur and that the
networked computers can communicate and exchange data properly with each other.
Every computer connected to the Internet has a unique IP address. If duplicate IP
addresses existed, information using a given address could end up in the wrong place. It
would be like using the same street address for two residences. As a sender of
information, you would never know if the intended receiver did receive your
information.
Internet applications
Software applications that run on the Internet are known as Internet applications. The
following table lists some of the most popular Internet applications:
Internet applications communicate across the Internet by using IP. IP transmits
application data in small packets to a destination IP address. The receiving host processes
the information that it receives.
Application Description
WWW World Wide Web. The web is a hypertext information system. It lets you read
and navigate to text and visual information in a nonlinear way that is based on
what you want to read next. This freely available information is linked
together in various ways on the Internet and is available for you to browse
whenever you want.
A website is a location on the World Wide Web. When you view a page, your
browser connects to that website to get the information.
E-mail Electronic mail. E-mail programs, such as Microsoft Outlook, let you send
and receive mail electronically over the Internet.
FTP File Transfer Protocol. This protocol lets you transfer information between
hosts using an FTP site.
Telnet Telnet lets you log on to a computer from a remote location.
NFS Network File System. NFS lets you share files between hosts.