TCP/IP

1. TCP

TCP stands for Transport Control Protocol. It is a program (software) that sends data (frames = stream of bytes) and provides with an acknowledgment messages. As long as the delivery has not been achieved (lost for example), TCP will continue to retransmit the data until timeout condition is reached. TCP is also capable to adjust the flow control between the sender's and the receiver's machines.

2. IP

IP stands for Internet Protocol. It is a program that allow the packets to be routed. It assures for every communication a routing table wchich is a kind of schedule using IP addresses. It operates in the layer 3 (network-layer) which contains addressing information. With TCP, TCP/IP are the two main protocols used by LANs and WANs (Internet).