Protocols

          In telecommunications, a communication protocol is a system of digital rules for data exchange within or between computers.
          Communicating systems use well-defined formats (protocol) for exchanging messages. Each message has an exact meaning intended to elicit a response from a range of possible responses pre-determined for that particular situation. Thus, a protocol must define the syntax, semantics, and synchronization of communication; the specified behaviour is typically independent of how it is to be implemented. A protocol can therefore be implemented as hardware, software, or both. Communication protocols have to be agreed upon by the parties involved. To reach agreement, a protocol may be developed into a technical standard. A programming language describes the same for computations, so there is a close analogy between protocols and programming languages: protocols are to communications as programming languages are to computations.