Web
The World Wide Web (WWW or simply Web) is an information space where documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), interlinked by hypertext links, and accessible via the Internet. Here is detailed information about the Web:
History
- Inception: The Web was invented by Tim Berners-Lee in 1989 while working at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Switzerland. His proposal aimed to facilitate sharing information among researchers.
- First Website: The first website went live on August 6, 1991, and was dedicated to explaining the World Wide Web project itself. It was hosted on a NeXT computer at CERN.
- Development:
- HTML (HyperText Markup Language) was developed as the language to create web pages.
- HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) was created to define how messages are formatted and transmitted over the Internet.
- URL (Uniform Resource Locator) was standardized to locate resources on the Web.
Functionality
- Web Browsers: Users access the Web through web browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari. These browsers interpret HTML, CSS, and JavaScript to render web pages.
- Web Servers: Websites are hosted on web servers that store and serve web content upon request.
- Client-Server Model: The Web operates on a client-server model where browsers (clients) request data from servers, which respond with the requested information.
Technologies and Standards
- HTML: The markup language used to structure web pages.
- CSS: Cascading Style Sheets for styling and formatting the layout of web pages.
- JavaScript: A scripting language for creating interactive features on websites.
- Web Standards: Organizations like the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develop standards to ensure interoperability and accessibility.
Impact and Evolution
- Global Access: The Web has made information universally accessible, leading to the democratization of knowledge and information.
- E-commerce: The rise of online shopping and digital transactions.
- Web 2.0: A term used to describe the evolution of the Web to a platform where users not only consume but also contribute content, leading to social media and user-generated content platforms.
- Semantic Web: An extension of the Web to enable better data integration and usage through standards like RDF (Resource Description Framework).
- Web 3.0: The next stage, aiming at decentralization, blockchain technologies, and AI-driven personalization.
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