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Net Basics: FTP |
A dream ? Not in cyberspace ! That's because the Internet was
created with the aim of sharing information. Groups of scientists
from all around the world shared data by putting it on one computer,
and getting it from there as and when they needed it. Ask scientists
to name something and you can only expect a name sprinkled with
jargon, and these guys didn't disappoint - they called it File
Transfer Protocol. And the rest of us, being simple people, created
an abbreviation - FTP.
I remember the good old days when I was a software engineer
in SEEPZ, working for a Japanese client (asso!). We had to give
them regular updates of a software package we were developing
for them. Now one way to do this would be to send them floppies
by courier - but this would take a day and would need about 50
floppies each time ! What we did instead was to FTP it (sitting
from Andheri) to our Internet computer (server) in the US. The
Japs would then use their password to get it from there. They
had the program within 10 minutes of our completing work on it
!
This was a private FTP - only the J's and we could access the
program. On the Internet though, there are thousands of computers
that serve as public archive sites. These archive sites contain
hajaar files for downloading by anyone. To get these files
(could be text, audio, video, or programs), you have to connect
(login) to the Internet, go to the computer that has the programs
that you want, skim through the files there till you find the
one you were looking for, and copy it to your hard disk. Browsers
like Netscape and Internet Explorer have FTP built into them,
so it all boils down to a few clicks of your mouse. However, if
you're using a shell account, you have to master a few boring
commands first - it's slightly more tedious then.
Now wouldn't it be nice if we could FTP our daily supplies of
vegetables or fish down to our dining tables ? It would save us
all that hassles of hearing those choice gaalees by those
vendors …