Introduction to the Web
Why The "Web"?
- The course is completely based on the web.
- The "web" is a generic platforms and works across multiple OS and platforms.
- Built on sound underlying principles.
- The "web" is worth understanding as the web is rapidly developing.
- Constraints of the web.
- Costs: Storage, Network and so on.
History of Internet
1890+: Telephone Networks
- Physical wires tied up for duration of call even if no one speaks.
1960: Packet switched networks
- Wires occupied when only in use.
- Data transferred instead of voice
1969: ARPANet
- Node-to-Node network
Protocols
- Answers the question: How to format packets?
- Each network has its own protocol.
"Inter" Network
- Answers the question: How to communicate within different protocols?
- Alternatively, replace each protocol with "Inter" Network protocol.
1983: IP(Internet Protocol)
- Defines headers, packet types, interpretation
1983: TCP(Transmission Control Protocol)
- Establishes reliable communications - retry, error control
- Automatically scale and adjust to network limit
1985: Domain name
- Uses names instead of IP addresses.
- Revolutionary
1989+: HyperText
- Serving text documents on the web
- Formatting hints inside document served to "link" to other text documents.
- Lead to the development of HTML, i.e.
Hyper Text Markup Language
All this lead to the development of "The World Wide Web".
Advancements in "The Web"
Original Web and its Limitations
- Static pages
- Limited Styling
- Browser compatibility Issue
- Complicated executable interfaces
2004+: Web 2.0
- Generate dynamic pages
- HTTP was now used as a transport mechanism rather than a transport protocol.
- Computation was now performed on the client side
- platform agnostic operating system