TCPIPprotokollajärjestelmää

TCP/IP protocol is a suite of communication protocols used to interconnect network devices on the internet and other computer networks. The name comes from two of its most important protocols: the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the Internet Protocol (IP). These protocols define how data should be packetized, addressed, transmitted, routed, and received. IP is responsible for addressing and routing packets of data, ensuring they reach their intended destination across networks. TCP provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked delivery of a stream of octets between applications running on hosts communicating via an IP network. It establishes a connection before data transfer and ensures that all data arrives in the correct order and without corruption.

Other key protocols within the TCP/IP suite include UDP (User Datagram Protocol), which offers a connectionless and unreliable but faster data transfer method, and HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), used for transferring files on the World Wide Web. The layered architecture of TCP/IP, often described with four or five layers (Application, Transport, Internet, and Network Access, or sometimes with a Physical layer), allows for modularity and interoperability between different hardware and software systems. This standardized approach has been fundamental to the growth and ubiquitous nature of the internet.