Thursday, March 01, 2007

Internet vs. Web

The Internet and the World Wide Web are not synonymous: the Internet is a collection of interconnected computer networks, linked by copper wires, fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, etc.; the Web is a collected works of interconnected documents and other resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. The World Wide Web is available via the Internet, as are many other services with e-mail, file sharing, and others described below.
The best way to define and differentiate between these terms is with reference to the Internet protocol suite. This collection of standards and protocols is ordered into layers such that each layer provides the foundation and the services necessary by the layer above. In this conception, the term Internet refers to computers and networks that communicate using IP (Internet protocol) and TCP (transfer control protocol). Once this networking structure is recognized, then other protocols can run “on top.” These other protocols are sometimes called services or applications. Hypertext transfer protocol, or HTTP, is the application layer protocol that relations and provides access to the files, documents and other resources of the World Wide Web.

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