Systems / ILLUSTRATED SERIES

How the Internet Works

An Illustrated Journey of What Happens When You Type a URL

Follow one request all the way from your keyboard to a page on the screen. Connect DNS, TCP, TLS, and HTTP into a single story.

Coming soon

We’re preparing this book for publication. Its Amazon listing will be linked here when it’s available.

Read a sample chapter

A REAL LOOK INSIDE

From a URL to a Page

The running example begins on a laptop connected to a home network. Its browser receives this URL:

The page that eventually appears may combine a cached document, new responses, images, stylesheets, scripts, and fonts. This chapter locates the main systems in that process before later chapters examine them separately.

An excerpt from the working manuscript. Read the illustrated pages or download the complete sample chapter.

Read the sample →

First page of From a URL to a Page, a sample from How the Internet Works

A LITTLE MORE CLARITY

What you’ll explore.

Developers who want to know what happens between a URL and a loaded page.

The outline is from the working manuscript and may change before publication.

01Packets and layers
02DNS
03Routing
04TCP
05TLS
06HTTP and the browser

PUT AN IDEA TO WORK

There’s a seat for your curiosity.

Try a coding problem, then compare approaches with a friend.

Explore practice

Opening your workspace…