Introduction

Before we explain, what a protocol is, let’s start with the basics of communication. How do we communicate? We use different languages for communication. I am an Indian and suppose my client is a German. In our case, I speak Hindi, and he speaks German. Now, there is a communication gap/barrier.

To eliminate this barrier, we use a common language to communicate which is English. There is one mandatory prerequisite, which is, both of us must understand English and our English must be the same (same 26 alphabets). It sounds funny that I am saying that our English should be the same. What if, we both have different versions of the English language, then also there will be a communication gap/barrier. Thus, the whole world has the same version of the English language. This global acceptability of a language is termed as a protocol in networking.

What is a Protocol

A protocol in a communication network is a set of rules and guidelines used for communicating data. These rules are defined for each step and process that occurs during communication between two or more computers. Networks must follow these rules to successfully transmit data across servers or computers.

How Protocol Works

Now, you know what a protocol is. But how a protocol is executed and understood by our browsers. A browser is developed in such a way that it understands HTTP and other protocols. Even you might have seen https:// or http:// in your browser. These protocols have to be implemented in a specific way while coding. We will discuss the HTTP and HTTPS protocols implementation later. Apart from these website protocols, the basic protocol for internet is TCP/IP.

TCP/IP stands for Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol, and it is implemented on an operating system. Every operating system has these protocols pre-implemented. Once your website is on the Internet, and your browser tries to connect to your website, TCP/IP is automatically executed, to run it. The definition of these protocols is defined by World Wide Web Consortium, which is the main international standards organisation for the World Wide Web (W3) or WWW.