What is the purpose of "ping" and how does it work?

Question

jagatuba · Answer

Ping is used to test the communication between two computers and test the round trip time of packets. The sending computer (the one that is pinging) sends an ICMP packet to the receiving computer and then waits for an ICMP response. It measures the round-trip time and any packet loss. If no response is received, the administrator knows that there is a problem on the network. Non-response could mean that the receiving computer is not on or connected, but usually the test is performed when the receiving computer should be receiving.

anonymous · Answer

in few words, to test latency

jagatuba · Answer

yes but he was asking how it worked as well.