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WHAT IS THE INTERNET ? ( NET )
The Internet is a loose association of thousands of networks and millions of computers across the world,
that all work together to share information. It is refered to as the "Information superhighway", somewhat
like a mass-transit system carrying traffic all over the metropolitan area. On the Net, the main lines carry
the bulk of the traffic and are collectively known as the Internet backbone. This backbone is formed by the
biggest networks in the system, owned by major Internet Service Providers (ISP), such as America Online
(AOL), Compuserve, GTE, MCI, and SPRINT etc. By connecting to each other, these Networks create a superfast
pipeline that crisscrosses the United States and extends to Europe, Japan, mainland Asia & the the world.
What is the World Wide Web ? ( Web )
Although the term Web and Internet are often used synonymously, they are actually 2 different things. The
Internet is the global association of computers that carries data & makes the exchange of information possible.
The Web is a subset of the Net - a collection of Interlinked documents that work together using a specific
Internet Protocal (agreement) called HTTP (HYPERTEXT TRANSFER PROTOCOL). In other words the Internet exists
independently of the Web, but the Web can't exist without the Net.
Until 1989, accessing information through the Internet was a rather technical affair. It was so hard, that even
Ph.D.- holding Scientists were often frustrated when trying to exchange data for research. One such physicist
Tim Bernes Lee proposed the project to easily cross- reference text on the Internet through "hypertext links",
as means to better communicate research ideas among Professors of various Colleges & universities. The Web
uses individual pages combined to make up Websites.
Web pages are written in HTML or Hypertext Markup Language. Hypertext means text stored in electronic form
with cross-referenced links between pages. HTML is a language for describing how pages of text, graphics,
and other information are organized, formatted & linked together. The defining feature of the Web is its
ability to connect pages to one another - as well as Audio, Video & Image files - with Hyperlinks. Just click
a Hyperlink and suddenly you are connected to a Website on the otherside of the world. ( Before you had to
type in exact Net address or wade through a series of menus to get where you wanted to go ).
By 1993 almost 100 Mainframe computers of different organizations throughout the world were equipped to serve
up HTML pages. These interlinked pages were dubbed the WWW (World Wide Web) and several Web browser programs
such as Netscape Communicator and MS Internet Explorer, had been written to allow users to view Web pages by
helping them to navigate through this vast jungle of WWW. The World Wide Web is on the verge of becoming a
mass-market medium as high speed Internet connections through TV cables, modernized phone line and direct
satellite feeds become a commonplace.
In the next 24 hours, approximately 100,000 new Webpages will be posted in publicly accessible areas of the
Internet. At least as many pages will be placed on private Intranets to be seen by business people connected
by to local networks. Every one of those pages - like over 100 million pages already online - will use (HTML)
Hypertext Markup Language, or Javascript applications.