protocol

A set of rules and conventions that describes the behaviour that computers must follow in order to understand each other.

Any formal description of message formats and the rules two computers must follow to exchange those messages. Protocols can describe low-level details of machine-to-machine interfaces (e.g., the order in which bits and bytes are sent across a wire) or high-level exchanges between allocation programs (e.g., the way in which two programs transfer a file across the Internet). Files on the Internet are transferred via what is known as FTP File Transfer Protocol. See World Wide Web for the common http protocol. See Internet Messaging for common protocols for sending messages across the Internet. (See also FTP and File transfer )

The rules make possible the exchange of messages between users on the Internet, or within any given network.

A formal description of messages to be exchanged and rules to be followed for two or more systems to exchange information.

Method by which computers communicate to each other over the internet in order to provide a service.Different computers and operating systems and software are able to communicate with each other on the internet,because of the adoption of protocols.