Université Catholique de Louvain: Olivier Bonaventure's "Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice"
Read the introduction to Chapter 2 and section 2.1, "Services and Protocols," on pages 5-20. You may notice that some information in the textbook is not completely up-to-date. The Wikipedia article below includes some more recent information for you to explore. Also, Figure 2.1 in the textbook shows the number of hosts on the Internet only through 2007. Updated information is available at: https://www.isc.org/solutions/survey/history.
The second chapter of Computer Networking: Principles, Protocols, and Practice serves as an introduction to networking as you link across time to review the development of standards and technologies that comprise today's wired and wireless information systems entangled in the Web.
As you read this section, consider the following questions: What is the difference between a service and a protocol? What is topology and what is a transmission mode? What is the purpose of each?