What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web or WWW is information, resources, or websites stored on a web server and accessed through the Internet via local machines. The web and the Internet are two different things. The web is a service built upon the Internet.

History of the World Wide Web

For researchers to collaborate effectively, Timothy Berner Lee started the World Wide Web project at CERN in 1989. Initially, WWW was a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG). Then at the end of 1990, Timothy Berner Lee created a Web Server and Browser to demonstrate the project at CERN. It was released to other scientists in January 1991 and later released to the public on 23 August 1991. The World's First website created by Tim is http://info.cern.chhttp://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html This link contains all the information related to the World Wide Web project.

Components of the World Wide Web :

• Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML): Most common type for web page formatting.

• HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP): Used to transfer information on the web across the internet.

• Uniform Resource Locator (URL): Used to identify the resource and server on the internet.

Difference between Web 1.0 vs Web 2.0 vs Web 3.0

Web 1.0 :

The first generation of the web was originally created by Timothy Berner Lee. It was mainly static, used for providing information and the website look like a printed page.

Features of Web 1.0 :

• Read Only.

• Owned content

• Static Websites.

• The purpose is information sharing.

• Limited interaction with the server.

Web 2.0 :

Web 1.0 was focused on reading or sharing content but Web 2.0 focused on reading, writing, and contributing. It allowed users to generate content and also allowed other people to view the content. This made a lot of online applications possible, and dynamic websites emerged. Growth of Web 2.0 driven by increased usage of Mobile and Social Media applications.

Features of Web 2.0 :

• Read and Write.

• Content is shared.

• Static and Dynamic Websites.

• Interaction between server and users.

Web 3.0 :

The latest iteration of the web. In web 2.0 our data is the hands of big corporations. Web 3.0 is designed in such a way that we users take control back to our data. Decentralization, openness, and increased user utility are the main concepts of web 3.0

Features of Web 3.0 :

• Read-write-interact.

• Consolidated information.

• Powered by Blockchain.

• Uses a decentralized network and provides data control to the owner.

What is Internet?

The Internet is an interconnected computer system that uses internet protocol to communicate between different devices and networks. It consists of both private and public applications on top of it. Using the internet we can send emails, make video calls, chat, share files, do cloud gaming, etc. It is a communication gateway, you can only communicate with other systems or access the application if your system is connected to the internet.

• The internet is an infrastructure, but the world wide web is a service.

• The internet is hardware-oriented, whereas the world wide web is software-oriented.

• The internet employs IP addresses, but the world wide web uses HTTP.

Now we know about the World Wide Web and the Internet. Let us get to know about web servers..! In this section, we will get to know about what is a web server. How do they work and why are they important?

Web Server

A web Server is a combination of both hardware and software which uses HTTP or its secure type HTTPS to respond to user requests made via the World Wide Web. To process files for email or storage, web servers also use the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP).

On the hardware side, A web server is a computer that stores web server software as well as the component files for a website. Ex: HTML document, images, CSS stylesheets, etc.

On the software side, A web server controls how users access the hosted files. Consists of many components, at the minimum it houses an HTTP server. An HTTP server can understand HTTP requests and URLs.

How does a Web Server work?

Web server follows the client-server model.

• When a user wants to load any website, the user will type the URL of the website in the address bar of the browser called HTTP REQUEST

• The browser will look for the IP address of the domain name by converting the URL via DNS(Domain Name System) or via cache memory. This IP address will direct us to the server where our files are hosted.

• The HTTP Request reaches the correct web server, HTTP Server accepts the request and finds the required file in the server, and then sends it back to the browser.

• Returns 404 response if HTTP Server cannot able to find the requested document.

Use of Web Servers:

• Sending and Receiving E-Mails via SMTP(Simple Mail Transfer Protocol).

• Processing of files via FTP(File Transfer Protocol).

• Host multiple websites or web applications.

Type of Web Servers:

• Apache HTTP Server: Most popular web server and about 60% of the website run on this server. It is an open-source server. It can be installed and operated on almost all operating systems.

• NGINX: It is also an open-source web server. It is known for its speed and ability to handle multiple connections, which is why many high-traffic websites use its services.

• Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS): IIS is a closed web server software developed by Microsoft widely used in Windows operating systems.

• Lighttpd: Free and open-source. It is known for its speed while using less CPU power. Also popular for having a small memory footprint.

Conclusion

This is an introduction to the World Wide Web(WWW), the Internet, and Web Servers. WWW is an application that runs on the Internet. WWW also helps to interact and share information.

The Internet is an interconnected computer system that uses internet protocol to communicate between different devices and networks. The Internet makes WWW possible.

The web Server is the one responsible store and retrieval of web documents.

I hope this article helps you understand World Wide Web, the Internet, and Web Servers.

Happy Learning...! ✌️✌️✌️