Page 8 - DCAP408_WEB_PROGRAMMING

Web Programming

Notes  Demonstrate the hyperlinks and hypermedia
 Recognize HTTP and WWW
 Explain Web Server
 Scan the client server architecture model

Introduction

“The Internet” is probably one of the most overused technical term in common man’s lingo
today. Though everyone seems to have some ideas and opinions about the Internet yet not
many can define it precisely. There is no single, generally agreed upon answer to the question–
“What is the Internet?” - because the Internet is a different thing to different people. Consider
the following few expressions in this context.
 Internet, the mega network connecting millions of people, is a tremendous phenomenon.
The web, an offshoot of this global resource has revolutionized the way information is
passed on.
 It is the name given for a vast, worldwide system consisting of people, information, and
computers.
 It is a network of networks.
 It is an unlimited commercial opportunity.

 It is a set of computers talking over fibre-optics, phone lines, satellite links, and other
media.
 It is cyber space where data surfing can be done.

 It is an ocean of information.
 It is a gold mine of professionals from all fields sharing information about their work.
 It is a world wide interconnected system of thousands of computer networks, each network
in turn linking thousands of computers together.

In short, we can say that the Internet is a vast collection of globally available information, which
can be accessed electronically – information, which is of practical use for business, research,
study, and technical purposes. It is a means for electronic commerce – marketing, buying,
services, economic, and financial data research. It is a collection of hundreds of libraries and
archives that will open to your fingertips. It is also a vast store of information relating to your
hobbies, travel, health, entertainment, games, software, etc.
Today, the information can be in the form of Text, Images, Animation, Sound, Video, etc.,
tomorrow it would probably be in the form of smell, touch, taste or some energized form. If
information can be put on computers, it can be digitized and can be made available on the
Internet. The only catch is - How fast? Even the future may not be able to tell.
To be technically correct, we can say that the Internet is “an ever growing wide area network of
millions of computers and computer networks across the globe, which can exchange information
through standard rules (protocols)”. The same is illustrated in the figure 1.1.
Each computer participating in the Internet has a unique address. Information is divided into
packets, which may travel through different paths to the destination address where it is
recombined into its original form.

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