Лекция: Text 7. The Internet and the World Wide Web
The terms “Internet” and “World Wide Web” are often used in every day speech without much distinction. However, the Internet and the WWW are not one and the same. The Internet is the backbone of the World Wide Web. It is the global data communication system, i.e. the hardware and software infrastructure. It provides connectivity between the Internet-based resources and services and the users of those facilities.
In contrast, the Web is only one of the services communicated via the Internet. The WWW is a huge set of interlinked documents, images and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. These hyperlinks and URLs allow the web servers and other machines that store originals, and cached copies of these resources to deliver them as required using HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol). Web services use HTTP to allow software systems to communicate in order to share and exchange business logic and data.
Through such Internet search engines like Yahoo! And Google, millions of people worldwide have easy, instant access to a vast and diverse amount of on-line information, compared to encyclopedias and traditional libraries, the World Wide Web has enabled a sudden and extreme decentralization of information and data.
Using the Web, it is also easier than ever before for individuals and organizations to publish ideas and information to an extremely large audience.
Anyone can find ways to publish a web page, a blog or build a website for very little initial cost. Many individuals and some companies and groups use web blogs, which are largely used as easily updatable online diaries.
The Internet originated in the early 1970s when the United States wanted to make sure the people could communicate after the nuclear war. This needed a free and independent communication network without a centre and it led to a network of computers that could send each other e-mail through cyberspace.
Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web (WWW) when he discovered a way to jump to different files on his computer using the random or unplanned links between them. He then wrote a simple coding system, called HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) to create links to files on any computer connected to the network. This was possible because each file had an individual address, or URL (Uniform Resource Locator). He then used a set of transfer rules, called HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol) to link Web files together across the Internet. Berners-Lee also invented the world’s first browser. This lets you locate and view Web pages and also navigate from one link to another.
The WWW became available to everyone in 1991 and the number of Internet users grew from 600,000 to 40 million in five years. Today, that number is miles larger and there are now many browsers that provide Web pages, information and other services. You can also do research, download music files, play interactivegames, shop, talk in chat rooms and send and receive e-mail on the WWW.