INTRODUCTION TO NETWORKSummaryOne problem people face today is that they don't know what a computer network is. They may have heard of a computer network, but they have no idea how it works or why. People have fundamental questions that need to be answered. The purpose of this article is to provide some basic networking information that will hopefully answer these questions. To enable people to understand computer networks, we need to address several areas. Definitions of certain network nomenclatures will be provided. Many people may have heard or seen these words, but never knew what they meant. Another important part is the history of networking. By giving a brief history of networking, it will give the reader a good foundation on which to start. They need to know how networking came to be and why it is such a big part of our lives today. We also explain why it's important to understand networking. The hardware or physical attributes of a network are also included in this document. There is a lot of confusing hardware in a network, but it's relatively simple. Finally, everything will be connected to explain how the network works. People need to know what a word means when they see it. Appended are some terms that will be used in this article as well as several other important terms. Once you are familiar with these terms, we will discuss the history of networking. Explanations will be provided on how networking came to be and who was the first to experiment with it. We will also discuss some statistics about the Internet and its growth. In the 1950s, there was no interaction between users and their programs when they ran on computers. No direct communication was involved. Jobs were brought to the machine to be executed in batches. (Jones, 2001, Personal Computers History and Development) “In the 1960s, time sharing allowed the first interactive access to computers. It was a mixture of data transmission technology and a teletypewriter. The result was an interactive terminal. These terminals were connected to a server with low-speed lines, allowing users to interact with the computer and take advantage of its resources. Time sharing gave multiple users the ability to use the computer in middle of paper......2001. Essential Elements of Management Information Systems)ReferencesBigelow, J. Stephen. (1997). Troubleshooting and Repairing PC Drives and Memory Systems, 2nd Edition. McGraw Hill. 2, 13Jones Telecommunications and Multimedia Encyclopedia, (2001) Micro-instrumentation telemetry systems: history and development of personal computers. Retrieved July 25, 2001: from the World Wide Web: http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/pc_hd.htmlJones Telecommunications and Multimedia Encyclopedia, (2001). Micro-Instrumentation Telemetry Systems: BASIC - General Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code for Beginners. Retrieved July 24, 2001: from the World Wide Web: http://www.digitalcentury.com/encyclo/update/BASIC.htmlHistory of the Internet, (2001). Retrieved July 28, 2001: from the World Wide Web: http://www.orangepeel.com/history/tcp_ip.htmLaudon, KC and Laudon, JP (2001). Essentials of management information systems (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. 11, 363 Lowe, Doug. (1998). Networking for Dummies (3rd edition). IDG Books I, 50-101 Winn, Rosch. (1997). The Hardware Bible. Richard K. Swadley Press 4, 99 -111