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Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?

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Re: Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?

#21

Post by 8bitsrule »

This short, 1995 history of the web (a timeline) may prove handy.

http://www.netvalley.com/archives/mirrors/robert_cailliau_sp...

Edit: Here's one from Tim Berners Lee circa 1993-4.

https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/TimBook-old/History.html

Re: Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?

#22

Post by godelmachine »

jimpudar wrote: post #15
godelmachine wrote: post #14

"The Design Philosophy of the DARPA Internet Protocols" is what you are looking for → http://ccr.sigcomm.org/archive/1995/jan95/ccr-9501-clark.pdf Excellent summary of the same by Adrian Colyer → https://blog.acolyer.org/2015/01/22/the-design-philosophy-of... You can also read "The Innovators" by Walter Isaacson to get acquainted with how it gained momentum.

Reading the design philosophy was a life changing experience for me. It's really incredible how much we take this incredible system for granted.

You spoke my mind :)

Re: Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?

#23

Post by jmiserez »

voltagex_ wrote: post #7
jonjacky wrote: post #4

Then if you really want to get into the details you could begin working through the RFCs: https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc-index.html in contrast to this, a brief and lively history is the book Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon.

https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1118.txt is one such historical record. Implementing something like DNS, however, requires jumping between multiple documents and understanding what's deprecated and extended by each.

It’s super-annoying to read an RFC and not know about the newer updates or that it has been superseded altogether. And source code that mentions RFC 822 when it’s been superseded twice. Unfortunately the old RFCs are never updated with links to the newer ones.

However, I just saw that rfc-editor.org actually lists these links between them, e.g. https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2822 has links to both 822 and to 5322.

Re: Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?

#26

Post by unmole »

jmiserez wrote: post #23
voltagex_ wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1118.txt is one such historical record. Implementing something like DNS, however, requires jumping between multiple documents and understanding what's deprecated and extended by each.

It’s super-annoying to read an RFC and not know about the newer updates or that it has been superseded altogether. And source code that mentions RFC 822 when it’s been superseded twice. Unfortunately the old RFCs are never updated with links to the newer ones. However, I just saw that rfc-editor.org actually lists these links between them, e.g. https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc2822 has links to both 822 and to 5322…

All RFC's have links to Obsoleted by and Updated by sections in HTML format where applicable. For example: https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc822

Re: Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?

#28

Post by mrisoli »

A few years ago I took this MOOC: https://www.coursera.org/learn/internet-history

It was great for me because it was very light in coursework and easy, so it was a good gateway drug to MOOCs, unlike the more advanced classes which I often dropped halfway due to lack of time.

The content itself is very good, includes some old videos and interviews with some of the people who worked on internet technology in the 80s and 90s, and even does a quick explanation of some concepts of computer networks(TCP/IP, ethernet, etc).

Re: Ask HN: Where can one learn about the history of the internet and the protocols?

#29

Post by blackbeard334 »

no_protocol wrote: post #8

Where Wizards Stay Up Late: The Origins of the Internet By Katie Hafner and Matthew Lyon https://www.amazon.com/dp/0684832674 -- I read the Audiobook version of this book. It presents a narrative of the development of the very early stages of the internet. I enjoyed it. I think it would also have been fine in print or ebook formats. It is not too long and seems to present the events in a mostly linear fashion. You'll…

+1

Also, a more beginner explanation: http://www.warriorsofthe.net/

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