What is WWW (World Wide Web)?

WWW (World Wide Web) is a term used in computer science. It is a system of hypertext or hypermedia documents that can be connected and accessed over the Internet.

What is WWW in a URL?

WWW is a collection of files called Web sites or Web pages that contain information in the form of text, graphics, audio, and video formats, as well as links to other files. Files are identified by a universal resource locator (URL) that specifies the transfer protocol, the machine’s Internet address, and the file name.

Computer programs called browsers, such as Google Chrome or Microsoft‘s Internet Explorer, use the HTTP protocol to receive these files. In addition, new file types are constantly being developed, such as animation or virtual reality (VRML).

Until recently, readers had to be specially programmed to handle every new file type. Programming languages ​​such as Java from Sun Microsystems allow browsers to install utilities that can process this new kind of information.

Using a web browser, the user displays websites that consist of web pages that can contain text, images, videos, or other multimedia content and navigate using hyperlinks.

The web was founded in 1989 by British Tim Berners-Lee and Belgian Robert Cailliau while working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva, Switzerland, and was published in 1992.

Since then, Berners-Lee has played an active role in guiding the development of Web standards, such as the markup languages ​​in which web pages are created, and has advocated a semantic Web vision in recent years.

WWW Other Definitions

1) Web Page

A document or information source that is usually in HTML format and can contain hyperlinks to other web pages. The web page can be accessed from a physical device, an intranet, or the Internet.

2) Website

It is a set of web pages that are common to a domain or subdomain on the World Wide Web.

3) Web Server

Hyperlinks is a service or program that implements the HTTP protocol to transfer what we call web pages or HTML pages. This name is also given to the computer running this program.

4) Web 2.0

It represents the evolution of traditional applications towards end-user-oriented web applications. Web 2.0 is not exactly technology; it is an attitude.

5) Web 3.0

The term Web 3.0 first appeared in an article by Jeffrey Zeldman in 2006, and it is associated with Web 2.0 critics and technologies like AJAX. There is currently a considerable debate about what Web 3.0 means and what the correct definition is.

Basic Standards

1. HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)
2. HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)
3. URL (Uniform Resource Locator)

WWW Properties

1. Client-Server Model
2. Multiple protocol support
3. One piece of software to access all information
4. Uniform URL naming scheme
5. Hypertext and Hyper Environment
6. HTML as a universal language
7. Extensibility

WWW History

In 1989, Tim Berners-Lee and his team at CERN Laboratories created the World Wide Web. Their initial goal was to provide a unified method for accessing hypermedia documents from anywhere on the Internet. Its use expanded with the advent of the first graphic display.

Fewer segments of society have not been affected in one way or another by the explosive growth of the online world.

While the figures vary, some studies estimate that close to 1.7 billion people, or almost 25% of the world’s population, are online users.

Twenty years ago, British Tim Berners-Lee invented the web “simply because he needed it,” he told the BBC. From that moment on, the world has never been the same.

“Twenty years are nothing…” said Carlos Gardel in his beloved tango Volver. Perhaps in a few episodes of world history is this statement more apt than in the dizzying development of the global Internet network in the last two decades.

Something similar happened to the web, similar to what happened to the automotive industry at the beginning of the 20th century. An invention that existed decades ago reached its potential only when someone figured out how to lock it.

In the automotive case, Henry Ford succeeded by designing the Model T for millions of consumers who could afford to buy simple mechanical curiosities that were previously only available to millionaires.

Similarly, Berners Lee’s invention of the World Wide Web was created decades ago by scientists at the US Department of Defense. It quickly transformed the Internet from a small community of scientists and experts into a tool that hundreds of millions of people could use.

The World Wide Web, previously accessible only through complex computer codes, has made the online world just a click away.

Giants of the Network

In the industrial era, business giants gave their companies their surnames. Names like Rockefeller, Vanderbilt, Carnegie, and Ford were symbols of this era. Moreover, this tradition inspired a new generation of mega-corporations.

Perhaps few companies reflect expansion better than Google. It was founded in 1996 by two PhD students from Stanford University. Students Sergey Brin and Larry Page quickly took control of the internet search engine market.

Google’s value reached $320 billion in 2020 and continues to grow. Google has become a titan in advertising, media, commerce, and culture. It is also widely known among network users.

It is no coincidence that the verb ‘Google’ is accepted in languages ​​around the world. Like the Industrial Revolution, the network revolution has its defenders and critics. The economic expansion of the online world has affected many people.

For example, Amazon has put thousands of bookstores out of business. The advancement of the network has plagued the record and newspaper industries. The expansion of Wikipedia has reduced the appeal of traditional encyclopedias.

There are also cultural and political implications. Twitter’s founders saw how their invention influenced movements in closed societies. But giving a voice to many people also allowed unwanted ideas to spread.

Social Networks

Meanwhile, online social media has the potential to connect individuals, regardless of race, class, or place of origin, who share values, hobbies, and interests.

However, many complain that these networks, most notably Facebook, trivialize social interaction and sometimes threaten to compromise the privacy of millions of users.

Like the printing press, the web has made information and more sources of information available to many more people.

The global network today is like a city with some dangerous places and others magnificent.