What is Network?

A network is nothing more than two or more computers connected by a cable (or in some cases, by a ireless connection) so that they can exchange information.
Of course, computers can exchange information in other ways besides networks. Most of us have used what computer nerds call the sneakernet. That’s where you copy a file to a diskette and then walk the disk over to someone else’s computer. (The term sneakernet is typical of computer nerds’ feeble attempts at humor, and why not? As a way to transfer information, sneakernet was pretty feeble.)

The whole problem with the sneakernet is that it’s slow — plus, it wears a trail in your carpet. One day, some penny-pinching computer geeks discovered that connecting computers together with cables was actually cheaper than replacing the carpet every six months. Thus the modern computer network was born.
You can create a computer network by hooking all the computers in your office together with cables and installing a special network interface card (an electronic circuit card that goes inside your computer — ouch!) in each computer so you have a place to plug in the cable. Then you set up your computer’s
operating-system software to make the network work, and — voilà — you have a working network. That’s all there is to it.
If you don’t want to mess with cables, you can create a wireless network instead. In a wireless network, each computer is equipped with a special wireless network adapter that has little rabbit-ear antennas. Thus, the computers can communicate with each other without the need for cables.