Protocols

A protocol is an agreed method of completing an activity. Communication between computer systems rely upon agreed methods and these methods are known as communication protocols.

Overall, TCP/IP is a large collection of several communication protocols although both these protocols have their own definition shown below:

TCP is used for transmission of data from an application to the network in addition to is responsible for breaking data down into IP packets before they are sent and for assembling the packets when they arrive.
IP takes care of the communication with other computers as well as is responsible for the sending and receiving data packets over the Internet.

HTTP takes care of the communication between a web server and a web browser in addition to is used for sending requests from a web client also known as a browser to a web server, returning web content (web pages) from the server back to the client.

SMTP is simply used for the transmission of e-mails.

FTP takes care of the transmission of files between computers.

HTML represents Hypertext Markup Language, a standardized system used in order to tag text files either to achieve font, colour, graphic in addition to hyperlink effects on World Wide Web pages.

XML represents Extensible Markup Language, a metalanguage which allows users to define their own customized markup languages in order to portray documents on the World Wide Web.