What are Network Protocols and Why do I Need to Care About Them?

Transport Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) is the language of the internet. In and of itself, the name seems to imply that there are only two protocols in TCP/IP: TCP and IP. But that’s not the case. There are hundreds of different protocols for all kinds of requirements, systems, and outcomes.

Introducing Oneself

When I am teaching a TCP/IP class, I always start out by picking two random students and then asking them to greet one another in Swahili, or some other language they’re not likely to know (in the US). Of course, both students have a serious look of confusion on their faces! They have no idea how to communicate with one another like that!

But then I ask them to re-greet one another using conventional “teenage-speak.” No problem. They know exactly how to talk to each another. Why? Well, because they have an established, well-known, and fairly strictly adhered-to protocol. Indeed, the protocol probably isn’t written down. Instead, it is just a known thing — two teenagers in US high schools basically understand how to communicate with one another, at least at a basic interaction level.