COMPONENTS
OF THE INTERNET |
The
World Wide Web (abbreviated
as the Web or WWW) is
a system of Internet
servers that supports
hypertext to access
several Internet protocols
on a single interface.
Almost every protocol
type available on the
Internet is accessible
on the Web. This includes
e-mail, FTP, Telnet,
and Usenet News. In
addition to these, the
World Wide Web has its
own protocol: HyperText
Transfer Protocol, or
HTTP. These protocols
will be explained later
in this document.
The World Wide Web provides
a single interface for
accessing all these
protocols. This creates
a convenient and user-friendly
environment. It is no
longer necessary to
be conversant in these
protocols within separate,
command-level environments.
The Web gathers together
these protocols into
a single system. Because
of this feature, and
because of the Web's
ability to work with
multimedia and advanced
programming languages,
the Web is the fastest-growing
component of the Internet.
The operation of the
Web relies primarily
on hypertext as its
means of information
retrieval. HyperText
is a document containing
words that connect to
other documents. These
words are called links
and are selectable by
the user. A single hypertext
document can contain
links to many documents.
In the context of the
Web, words or graphics
may serve as links to
other documents, images,
video, and sound. Links
may or may not follow
a logical path, as each
connection is programmed
by the creator of the
source document. Overall,
the Web contains a complex
virtual web of connections
among a vast number
of documents, graphics,
videos, and sounds.
