WWW

World Wide Web (WWW3. The importance of the World-Wide Web

3.1. Alternatives to the World Wide Web 3.2. Using World-Wide Web for authoring or delivery

The World-Wide Web (also known as WWW or just the Web) is the provision of independent distributed servers which can work together and link together is a seamless way. The protocol each of these servers use is defined as the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to transmit documents in the HyperText Mark-up Language (HTML). HTML allows documents to contain formatting information and links to other media such as graphics, audio and video. The free distribution of descriptions [9], [10] of this mark-up language and information about how to construct servers and clients to display the information has led to a very large number of sites implementing and using this approach. Public domain implementations of the HTTP servers are available from several sites and for several platforms so that servers can be run from UNIX systems, PCs and Apple Macintoshes. The client software to allow access to servers over the network and the display of the retrieved HTML documents is also available for these platforms and others. In addition for each of the platforms there is a growing choice of client program. This is encouraging for the long term future of the Web approach to providing information, as it seems likely that free clients and servers will continue to be available even as commercial systems start to appear[11]. In addition to supporting documents written in HTML for the WWW clients, the Web offers access to other information services. Allowing access by clients to other servers means that information already being made available on existing gopher and ftp sites can be immediately integrated. A further feature of the Web is that access is possible to any program on the server. This allows easy extension of the WWW system to specialised areas such as database access, on line information gathering and security checking.

3.1. Alternatives to the World Wide Web

The World-Wide Web has now established itself as one of the fastest growing technologies in the computer world. The Web and its protocols and display clients offer advantages over earlier systems such as gopher in the way in which they support structured documents and linking across different servers. However the existing system does have some weaknesses. In particular communication between the server and the client is not built into the design. Each connection with the server is a new connection and can not be simply matched up to an earlier connection.

Software authored for local delivery can also take advantage of additional facilities and produce systems that are easier to use then those currently possible using the web. This may change with later versions of servers, clients and protocols. In addition some alternatives are becoming available, for example the Hyper-G system [12] which offers similar facilities but has additional features to allow greater integration between clients and servers and identification of users.

3.2. Using World-Wide Web for authoring or delivery

The facilities for authoring in the World-Wide Web have not been very sophisticated. HTML documents are basically plain text with mark-up indication (for example <h1>A Heading</h1> is an HTML sequence to define that text as being a level 1 heading). This means that any editor can be used to create the HTML documents. Tools are now appearing to help with this task, either sets of word processing macros (e.g. CU-HTML) or custom programs (e.g. HoTMetaL). There are now a variety of these to help in the authoring task, particularly in the creation of valid HTML documents. The Web approach to authoring documents is not as sophisticated as that used in typical authoring tools (such as those discussed in [13]). This is partly because of the need for further development of the tools to assist the creation of the documents and also the need to introduce further features into the servers and client, for example tables, pop-up windows and in-line video. Some of these features are planned for future releases such as HTML2 and HTML3 [14]. There is though a fundamental difference between the client-server approach of the Web and most other authoring approaches. On the Web it is under the control of the client how things are expected to appear on the screen. For example one client may choose to render a level 1 header in black bold Helvetica font at size 32point, while another may render it as blue italic TimesRoman size 12point. These local decisions mean that it is difficult to ensure that a given document appears as intended by the designer, the designer also can not predetermine the delays that will be imposed by using a remote server. This variation in appearance and interaction response times is not a problem for many uses of the Web where the underlying information is what is important, but where the design has been made to ensure usability these changes can hinder the use of learning material. In practice many Web pages have been designed on assumptions based on the use of the most common client with its default settings. Some control can be regained by using active graphic maps [9] in place of text but the current implementation of these does not allow adequate feedback and response times become even more dependent on the network performance. The majority of courseware has been produced for delivery to local machines using authoring systems targeted at those machines and for the reasons outlined above this is likely to continue to be the case. The role of a courseware server then can be to deliver this material in a simple and flexible manner. As the separate strand of courseware developed for the Web (and similar technologies) develops and becomes established this will be able to be served alongside the more conventional packages.

Definition
Collection of internet resources (such as FTP, telnet, Usenet), hyperlinked text, audio, and video files, and remote sites that can be accessed and searched by browsers based on standards such as HTTP and TCP/IP. Also called the web, it was created in 1989 by the UK physicist Tim Berners-Lee while working at the European Particle Physics Laboratory (called CERN after its French initials Conseil Europeen de Reserches Nucleaires) in Switzerland, as an easier way to access information scattered across the internet. Ads by Google

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/World-Wide-WebWWW.html#ixzz1oQoDjdAr

Stands for "World Wide Web." It is important to know that this is not a synonym for the Internet. The World Wide Web, or just "the Web," as ordinary people call it, is a subset of the Internet. The Web consists of pages that can be accessed using a Web browser. The Internet is the actual network of networks where all the information resides. Things like Telnet, FTP, Internet gaming, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and e-mail are all part of the Internet, but are not part of the World Wide Web. The Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is the method used to transfer Web pages to your computer. With hypertext, a word or phrase can contain a link to another Web site. All Web pages are written in the hyper-text markup language (HTML), which works in conjunction with HTTP.

Network Protocol - Types of Network Protocols

What is a Network Protocol
A protocol is a set of rules that governs the communications between computers on a network. These rules include guidelines that regulate the following characteristics of a network: access method, allowed physical topologies, types of cabling, and speed of data transfer.

Types of Network Protocols

The most common network protocols are:

Ethernet Local Talk Token Ring FDDI ATM

The follow is some common-used network symbols to draw different kinds of network protocols. Ethernet The Ethernet protocol is by far the most widely used. Ethernet uses an access method called CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection). This is a system where each computer listens to the cable before sending anything through the network. If the network is clear, the computer will transmit. If some other node is already transmitting on the cable, the computer will wait and try again when the line is clear. Sometimes, two computers attempt to transmit at the same instant. When this happens a collision occurs. Each computer then backs off and waits a random amount of time before attempting to retransmit. With this access method, it is normal to have collisions. However, the delay caused by collisions and retransmitting is very small and does not normally effect the speed of transmission on the network. The Ethernet protocol allows for linear bus, star, or tree topologies. Data can be transmitted over wireless access points, twisted pair, coaxial, or fiber optic cable at a speed of 10 Mbps up to 1000 Mbps. Fast Ethernet To allow for an increased speed of transmission, the Ethernet protocol has developed a new standard that supports 100 Mbps. This is commonly called Fast Ethernet. Fast Ethernet requires the use of different, more expensive network concentrators/hubs and network interface cards. In addition, category 5 twisted pair or fiber optic cable is necessary. Fast Ethernet is becoming common in schools that have been recently wired. Local Talk Local Talk is a network protocol that was developed by Apple Computer, Inc. for Macintosh computers. The method used by Local Talk is called CSMA/CA (Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance). It is similar to CSMA/CD except that a computer signals its intent to transmit before it actually does so. Local Talk adapters and special twisted pair cable can be

used to connect a series of computers through the serial port. The Macintosh operating system allows the establishment of a peer-to-peer network without the need for additional software. With the addition of the server version of AppleShare software, a client/server network can be established. The Local Talk protocol allows for linear bus, star, or tree topologies using twisted pair cable. A primary disadvantage of Local Talk is speed. Its speed of transmission is only 230 Kbps. Token Ring The Token Ring protocol was developed by IBM in the mid-1980s. The access method used involves token-passing. In Token Ring, the computers are connected so that the signal travels around the network from one computer to another in a logical ring. A single electronic token moves around the ring from one computer to the next. If a computer does not have information to transmit, it simply passes the token on to the next workstation. If a computer wishes to transmit and receives an empty token, it attaches data to the token. The token then proceeds around the ring until it comes to the computer for which the data is meant. At this point, the data is captured by the receiving computer. The Token Ring protocol requires a star-wired ring using twisted pair or fiber optic cable. It can operate at transmission speeds of 4 Mbps or 16 Mbps. Due to the increasing popularity of Ethernet, the use of Token Ring in school environments has decreased. FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) is a network protocol that is used primarily to interconnect two or more local area networks, often over large distances. The access method used by FDDI involves token-passing. FDDI uses a dual ring physical topology. Transmission normally occurs on one of the rings; however, if a break occurs, the system keeps information moving by automatically using portions of the second ring to create a new complete ring. A major advantage of FDDI is speed. It operates over fiber optic cable at 100 Mbps. ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a network protocol that transmits data at a speed of 155 Mbps and higher. ATM works by transmitting all data in small packets of a fixed size; whereas, other protocols transfer variable length packets. ATM supports a variety of media such as video, CD-quality audio, and imaging. ATM employs a star topology, which can work with fiber optic as well as twisted pair cable.

ATM is most often used to interconnect two or more local area networks. It is also frequently used by Internet Service Providers to utilize high-speed access to the Internet for their clients. As ATM technology becomes more cost-effective, it will provide another solution for constructing faster local area networks. Gigabit Ethernet The most recent development in the Ethernet standard is a protocol that has a transmission speed of 1 Gbps. Gigabit Ethernet is primarily used for backbones on a network at this time. In the future, it will probably be used for workstation and server connections also. It can be used with both fiber optic cabling and copper. The 1000BaseTX, the copper cable used for Gigabit Ethernet, is expected to become the formal standard in 1999.

Compare the Network Protocols

Protocol Ethernet Fast Ethernet LocalTalk Cable Twisted Pair, Coaxial, Fiber Twisted Pair, Fiber Twisted Pair Speed 10 Mbps 100 Mbps .23 Mbps 4 Mbps - 16 Mbps 100 Mbps 155-2488 Mbps Topology Linear Bus, Star, Tree Star Linear Bus or Star Star-Wired Ring Dual ring Linear Bus, Star, Tree

Token Ring Twisted Pair FDDI ATM Fiber Twisted Pair, Fiber

Network Diagramm