In telecommunications, packet switching is a method of grouping data transmitted over a digital network into packets. Packets are made of a header and a payload. Data in the header is used by networking hardware to direct the packet to its destination, where the payload is extracted and used by application software. Packet switching is the primary basis for data communications in computer networks worldwide.

Computer Network Terms II

A computer network is a set of computers sharing resources located on or provided by network nodes. The computers use common communication protocols over digital interconnections to communicate with each other. The connections between nodes are established using either physically wired, optical, or wireless radio-frequency that may be arranged in various network topologies. The best-known computer network is the Internet.