Revision sheet: Internet and Web Technologies

📋 Course Outline

1. Internet Foundations and History
2. World Wide Web Fundamentals
3. Client Server Communication
4. Core Web Technologies
5. Web Evolution and Trends
6. Website Types and Applications
7. Website Design Challenges
8. Website Publishing

📅 Key Dates

1. 1969ARPAnet, the first network, was created after Paul Baran developed packet-switching technology during the 1960s
2. 1970sVint Cerf and Bob Kahn developed Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP)
3. 1989Tim Berners-Lee, working at CERN, started the World Wide Web project
4. January 20214.66 billion people were connected to the Internet, representing more than half of the global population

📖 1. Internet Foundations and History

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Internet : A worldwide collection of interconnected computer networks that exchange data using common software standards.
• Internet Service Provider : A company that provides customers with Internet access, using technologies such as dial-up, DSL, cable modem, wireless, or dedicated high-speed interconnects.

📝 Essential Points

• The Internet is abbreviated from “INTErnational NETwork” and ISPs identified in the source for the UAE are Du and Etisalat.

💡 Memory Hook

Packet switching → ARPAnet → TCP/IP → public Internet → 5G

📖 2. World Wide Web Fundamentals

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• World Wide Web : A system of servers storing specially formatted documents called web pages that can link to one another.

★ Must-know

📌 The Web is built on the Internet and uses HTTP, HTML, a browser, and a server to share information.

Further detail

• After becoming publicly available, the Web reached an audience of 50 million people in four years, compared with 38 years for radio and 13 years for television.

💡 Memory Hook

Internet = network infrastructure; Web = information-sharing model

📖 3. Client Server Communication

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Client-Server Model : A relationship in which a web client requests a service and a web server fulfills that request.
• Web Client : Browser software such as Internet Explorer, Chrome, or Firefox that uses HTTP to request web pages and files from a web server.
• Web Server : Server software such as Apache or Internet Information Server that receives requests and transmits a status code, web page, and associated files.
• Hypertext Transfer Protocol : Defines how web browsers and web servers communicate and is the foundation of data communication for the Web.
• Uniform Resource Locator : A web address that identifies a resource on a web server and specifies how to retrieve it.
• Domain Name System : Acts like an address book by finding a website's IP address when a browser receives a URL.
• Top-Level Domain : A top-level domain (TLD) is the most generic domain in the hierarchical DNS; examples include .com, .org, .net, .edu, .mil, .gov, and .int.

📝 Essential Points

• 🔄 Web communication proceeds through these steps:
  1. The user enters a URL.
  2. The browser obtains the server IP address from DNS.
  3. The browser sends an HTTP request.
  4. The server returns the home page as HTML in an HTTP response.

📌 HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP and encrypts data transmitted between a client and a web server, as in banking, online purchases, and college portal websites.

💡 Memory Hook

URL → DNS → HTTP request → server response

📖 4. Core Web Technologies

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• HTML : Used to create basic web pages and define a website's structure and content.
• CSS : Used to style web pages.
• TCP/IP : Communication protocols that define how data should travel across the Internet.

📝 Essential Points

• JavaScript, JQuery, and AJAX add interactivity such as slide shows, interactive navigation, accordions, animations, and games.

💡 Memory Hook

HTML structures, CSS styles, JavaScript interacts

📖 5. Web Evolution and Trends

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Web 3.0 : The Semantic Web, also described as read-write-execute, where artificial intelligence and machine learning help computers analyze data and generate and distribute content suited to users' needs.

★ Must-know

📌 Web 1.0 is a read-only, static web in which users passively consume information by listening, reading, and watching.

📌 Web 2.0 is a read-write social web in which users create content and act as producer-consumers on services such as Facebook, Twitter, and Wikipedia.

Further detail

• Dale Dougherty of O’Reilly coined the term Web 2.0.

💡 Memory Hook

Read-only → read-write-social → read-write-execute

📖 6. Website Types and Applications

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Rich Internet Application : A Rich Internet Application (RIA) is a web application designed to provide desktop-like features and functions inside a web browser, usually without client-side software installation.

★ Must-know

📌 A static website has content that does not change automatically or frequently, is updated manually, and is written in HTML.

📌 A dynamic website changes automatically and frequently, with content generated and updated through a database.

📌 A web application is intended for user interactions and transactions and performs actual business functions, as in Amazon.com and HCT portal registration.

Further detail

• Website types based on content or purpose include:
  • search engines, directories and portals
  • informational websites
  • blogs or online diaries
  • company websites
  • discussion forums
  • ecommerce websites
  • social networking sites
  • file-sharing services

💡 Memory Hook

Static websites change manually; dynamic websites update through databases

📖 7. Website Design Challenges

🔑 Key Concepts & Definitions

• Responsive Design : Creates one website that responds and adapts to various screen sizes.
• Browser Compatibility : The ability of a web browser to properly interpret HTML.
• W3C : W3C – World Wide Web Consortium — The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops web technology standards, publishes specifications called Recommendations, and sets guidelines for web accessibility.

★ Must-know

• The way a web page is displayed depends on monitor size and screen resolution, and very small browsers may require a completely different page layout.

Further detail

• Designers address browser differences by testing websites in as many browsers as possible and following standards when writing HTML and CSS code.

💡 Memory Hook

Different devices and browsers → responsive design, testing, and standards

📖 8. Website Publishing

★ Must-know

• 🔄 Publishing a website involves:
  1. Registering a domain name.
  2. Selecting a hosting option.
  3. Uploading the site to the hosting server using FTP software.

Further detail

📌 A website may be hosted on the owner's server or in rented hosting space.

💡 Memory Hook

Domain name → hosting → upload

📊 Synthesis Tables

Internet and Web Comparison

Aspect	Internet	World Wide Web
Role	Network of networks	Information-sharing model
Main technologies	TCP/IP	HTTP, HTML, browser, server
Content	Connected computers and exchanged data	Linked web pages and resources

Web Evolution

Version	User role	Main characteristics
Web 1.0	Passive consumer	Read-only, static pages
Web 2.0	Producer-consumer	Read-write social services
Web 3.0	Intelligent user experience	Read-write-execute, AI and machine learning