Chapter 1 – Web Essentials

The Internet
The internet is a globally connected network system that uses TCP/IP to transmit data via
various types of media. The internet is a network of global exchanges – including private,
public, business, academic and government networks. It is a network of networks around
the globe.
The history of Internet was started with Department of Defense’s project called
Advanced Research Projects Agency, or ARPA in late 1960s. The ARPANET project
was intended to support DoD research on computer networking. The ARPANET
computer network was launched in 1969 and by year’s end consisted of four computers at
four sites (UCLA, Stanford Research Institute, UCSB, and the University of Utah)
running four different operating systems.
Other similar networks were developed both internationally and regionally. For
example, SURAnet (Southeastern University Research Association Network) was
organized by the University of Maryland beginning in 1982 and eventually included
essentially all of the major universities and research institutions in the southeastern
United States. Another of these networks, CSNET (Computer Science Network), was
partially funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) to aid scientists at
universities without ARPANET access, laying the groundwork for future network
developments.
While these other networks were springing up, the ARPANET project continued to
fund research on networking. Several of the most widely used Internet protocols—
including the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) and Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP),
which underlie many of the Internet’s file transfer and e-mail operations, respectively—
were initially developed under ARPANET.
ARPANET switched from using an earlier protocol to TCP/IP during 1982. At
around the same time, an ARPA Internet was created, allowing computers on some
outside networks such as CSNET to communicate via TCP/IP with computers on the
ARPANET.
Beginning in 1985, the NSF began work on a new network based on TCP/IP, called
NSFNET. In 1988, networks in Canada and France were connected to NSFNET.
NSFNET quickly supplanted ARPANET, which was officially decommissioned in 1990.
At this point, NSFNET was at the center of the Internet, that is, the collection of
computer networks connected via the public backbone and communicating across
networks using TCP/IP.

Basic Internet Protocols

A communication protocol is a detailed specification of how communication between
two computers will be carried out in order to serve some purpose.
TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol)
This protocol suite was developed by DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects
Agency). It is de facto standard, there is no official standard. The four layers of TCP/IP
are:
1. Application Layer
2. Transport Layer
3. Internet Layer
4. Network Access Layer

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Application Layer – This layer pprovides logic needed to support varieties of
applications. Separate module is needed for each type of application like DNS, HTTP,
SMTP etc.
Transport (Host to Host) Layer – This layer is responsible for end-to-end
communication and error-free delivery of data. Two main protocols used in this layer are
TCP and UDP.
Internet Layer – This layer is responsible for moving data among different networks.
Internet protocol (IP) is used at this layer for addressing and routing implemented in
computers and routers. A router is a processor that connects two networks and whose
primary function is to relay data from one network to the other on its route from the
source to the destination end system.
Network Access Layer – This layer defines details of how data is physically sent
through the network, including how bits are signaled by hardware devices that interface
directly with a network medium. The protocols included in this layer are Ethernet, Token
Ring, FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface), Frame Relay etc.
TCP, UDP, DNS, and Domain Names
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) – It is known to provide reliable and error-free
communication between end systems. It performs sequencing and segmentation of data.
It also has acknowledgement feature and controls the flow of the data through flow
control mechanism. It is a very effective protocol but has a lot of overhead due to such
features. Increased overhead leads to increased cost.
User Datagram Protocol (UDP) – On the other hand does not provide any such features.
It is the go to protocol if your application does not require reliable transport as it is very
cost-effective. Unlike TCP, which is connection-oriented protocol, UDP is
connectionless.
Domain Name Service (DNS) and Domain Names
While every device on the Internet has an IP address such as 192.168.0.10, humans
generally find it easier to refer to machines by names such as www.facebook.com. DNS
provides a mechanism for mapping back and forth between IP addresses and host names.
Basically, there are a number of DNS servers on the Internet, each listening through
UDP. When a computer on the Internet needs DNS services—for example, to convert a
host name such as www.facebook.com to a corresponding IP address – it uses the UDP
software running on its system to send a UDP message to one of these DNS servers,
requesting the IP address. If all goes well, this server will then send back a UDP message
containing the IP address.
Internet host names consist of a sequence of labels separated by dots. The final
label in a host name is a top-level domain. There are two standard types of top-level
domain: generic (such as .com, .edu, .org, and .biz) and country-code (such as .de, .np,
and .mx). The top-level domain names are assigned by the Internet Corporation for
Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), a private non-profit organization formed to
take over technical Internet functions that were originally funded by the U.S.
government.
Each top-level domain is divided into sub-domains (second-level domains), which
may in turn be further divided, and so on. The assignment of second-level domains within
each top-level domain is performed by a registry operator selected by ICANN. The

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owner of a second-level domain can then further divide that domain into sub-domains,
and so on. Ultimately, the sub-domains of a domain are individual computers.
Higher Level Protocols
A variety of higher-level protocols are used to communicate once a TCP connection has
been established. SMTP and FTP are two examples of widely used higher-level protocols
that are used to communicate over TCP connections. SMTP supports transfer of e-mail
between different e-mail servers, while FTP is used for transferring files between
machines. Another higher-level TCP protocol, Telnet, is used to execute commands typed
into one computer on a remote computer. The protocol that will be used to communicate
over a TCP connection is normally determined by the port number used to establish the
connection. The primary TCP-based protocol used for communication between web
servers and browsers is called the Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP).

World Wide Web (WWW)

The concept of WWW was proposed by Tim Berners-Lee at CERN (the European
Laboratory for Practical Physics) in the spring of 1989. In 1991, prototype WWW was
developed at CERN. In 1993, first graphical browser (Mosaic) was developed by Mark
Andreessen at NCSA (National Center for Supercomputing Applications).
WWW consists of consist of two types of software: server and client. An Internet-
connected computer that wishes to provide information to other Internet systems must run
server software, and a system that wishes to access the information provided by servers
must run client software (for the Web, the client software is normally a web browser).
The server and client applications communicate over the Internet by following a
communication protocol built on top of TCP/IP.
The generic protocol used by the Web is the Hypertext Transport Protocol, HTTP.
Most web pages are written using the Hypertext Markup Language, HTML, which along
with HTTP is a fundamental web technology. HTML pages can contain the familiar web
links (technically called hyperlinks) to other documents on the Web.
In addition to hyperlinks, modern versions of HTML also provide extensive page
layout facilities, including support for inline graphics, which has added significantly to
the commercial appeal of the Web. While the Internet can be thought of as the collection
of machines that are globally connected via IP, the World Wide Web can be informally
defined as the collection of machines (web servers) on the Internet that provide
information via HTTP, and particularly those that provide HTML documents.

Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)

When you browse the web, you type web address in the browser. When you press the
Enter key after typing this address, the browser creates a message conforming to the
HTTP protocol, use DNS to obtain an IP address for the address, creates a TCP
connection with the machine at the IP address obtained, sent the HTTP message over this
TCP connection, and received back a message that is displayed in the client area of the
browser.
HTTP is a form of communication protocol that specifies how web clients and
servers should communicate. The basic structure of HTTP communication follows a
request–response model. Specifically, the protocol dictates that an HTTP interaction is
initiated by a client sending a request message to the server; the server is then expected to
generate a response message. HTTP does not dictate the network protocol to be used to

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send these messages, but does expect that the request and response are both sent within a
TCP-style connection between the client and the server. So, most HTTP implementations
send these messages using TCP.
HTTP is an application layer protocol which is the foundation for data
communication for the World Wide Web. The data transferred by the protocol can be
plaintext, hypertext, audio, images, video or any Internet-accessible information. Basic
features of HTTP are:
• HTTP is connectionless: The HTTP client, i.e., a browser initiates an HTTP request
and after a request is made, the client disconnects from the server and waits for a
response. The server processes the request and re-establishes the connection with the
client to send a response back.
• HTTP is media independent: It means, any type of data can be sent by HTTP as
long as both the client and the server know how to handle the data content. It is
required for the client as well as the server to specify the content type using
appropriate MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Exchange) – type.
• HTTP is stateless: As mentioned above, HTTP is connectionless and it is a direct
result of HTTP being a stateless protocol. The server and client are aware of each
other only during a current request. Afterwards, both of them forget about each other.
Due to this nature of the protocol, neither the client nor the browser can retain
information between different requests across the web pages.

A full request uses the following fields:

• Request Line: Indicates the requested action, the resource on which the action is to
be performed, and the version of HTTP used in this message.
• General Headers: Contains fields that are applicable to the request message but that
do not apply to the entity being transferred.
• Request Headers: Contains information about the request and the client. For
example, a request may be conditional, specifying under what conditions the
requested action is to be determined. A field in this header may also indicate which
formats and encodings the client is able to handle.
• Entity Headers: Contains information about the resource identified by the request
and information about the entity body, if any.

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• Entity Body: The body of the message.

A response message has the same structure as a request message, but substitutes the
following headers for the request line and the request headers:
• Status Line: Indicates the version of HTTP used in this message and provides status
information about this response. For example, “OK” means that the request was
successfully completed.
• Response Headers: Provides additional data that expand on the status information in
the status line.

Web Page and Web Site

Web Page
A web page or webpage is a document suitable for WWW commonly written
in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) that is accessible through the Internet or other
network using web browsers. A web page is accessed by entering a URL address and
may contain text, graphics, and hyperlinks to other web pages and files. Web pages
frequently subsume other resources such as style sheets, scripts and images into their
final presentation. Web pages are requested and served from web servers using Hypertext
Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
Web Site
A website is a set of related web pages located under a common domain name. A website
is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a
private local area network. All publicly accessible websites collectively constitute the
World Wide Web. Web sites can be static or dynamic.
A static website is one that has web pages stored on the server in the format that is
sent to a client web browser. It is primarily coded in Hypertext Markup Language,
HTML. This type of website usually displays the same information to all visitors. Similar

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to handing out a printed brochure to customers or clients, a static website will generally
provide consistent, standard information for an extended period of time. Although the
website owner may make updates periodically, it is a manual process to edit the text,
photos and other content and may require basic website design skills and software. In
summary, visitors are not able to control what information they receive via a static
website, and must instead settle for whatever content the website owner has decided to
offer at that time.
A dynamic website is one that changes or customizes itself frequently and
automatically, based on certain criteria. Dynamic websites can have two types of
dynamic activity: Code and Content. Dynamic code is invisible or behind the scenes
and dynamic content is visible or fully displayed. In the first type, the code is constructed
dynamically on the fly using active programming language instead of plain, static HTML.
In the second type, website displays dynamic content in plain view. Variable content is
displayed dynamically on the fly based on certain criteria, usually by retrieving content
stored in a database

Web Client and Web Server

Web Client
A web client is software that accesses a web server by sending an HTTP request message
and processing the resulting HTTP response. Web browsers running on desktop or laptop
computers are the most common form of web client software. In general, any web client
that is designed to directly support user access to web servers is known as a user agent.
Furthermore, some web clients are not designed to be used directly by humans at all.
Web browsers, such as Mosaic, Netscape Navigator, or Internet Explorer, are the
most common interface to the World Wide Web. With a browser, you can download web
documents and view them formatted on your screen.
When you request a document with your browser, you supply a web address,
known as a Universal Resource Locator or URL. The URL identifies the machine that
contains the document you want, and the pathname to that document on the server. The
browser contacts the remote machine and requests the document you specified. After
receiving the document, it formats it as needed and displays it on your browser.
For example, you might click on a hyperlink corresponding to the URL
http://www.oreilly.com/index.html. Your browser contacts the machine called
www.oreilly.com and requests the document called index.html. When the document
arrives, the browser formats it and displays it on the screen. If the document requires
other documents to be retrieved (for example, if it includes a graphic image on the page),
the browser downloads them as well.
Web Server
The primary feature of every web server is to accept HTTP requests from web clients and
return an appropriate resource (if available) in the HTTP response. A web server is a
software program that serves web pages to web clients. A web server delivers requested
web pages to web clients based on the requested URL. Every computer on the internet
that contains a web site must have a web server program to respond to web client
requests. Leading web servers are Apache and IIS (Internet Information Server).

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Client Side and Server Side Scripting

Client Side Scripting
Client-side scripting generally refers to writing the class of computer programs (scripts)
on the web that are executed at client-side, by the user's web browser, instead of server-
side (on the web server). Usually scripts are embedded in the HTML page itself.
JavaScript, VBScript, Jscript, Java Applets etc. are the examples of client side scripting
technologies. JavaScript is probably the most widely used client-side scripting language.
Client-side scripts have greater access to the information and functions available on
the user's browser, whereas server-side scripts have greater access to the information and
functions available on the server. Upon request, the necessary files are sent to the user's
computer by the web server (or servers) on which they reside. The user's web browser
executes the script, and then displays the document, including any visible output from the
script.
Client-side scripts may also contain instructions for the browser to follow in
response to certain user actions, (e.g., clicking a button). Often, these instructions can be
followed without further communication with the server.
Server Side Scripting
Includes writing the applications executed by the server at run-time to process client
input or generate document in response to client request. So server side script consists the
directives embedded in Web page for server to process before passing page to requestor.
It is usually used to provide interactive web sites that interface to databases or other data
stores.
This is different from client-side scripting where scripts are run by the viewing web
browser, usually in JavaScript. The primary advantage to server-side scripting is the
ability to highly customize the response based on the user's requirements, access rights,
or queries into data stores. PHP, JSP, ASP etc, are the server side scripting technologies.

Web 1.0, Web 2.0, and Web 3.0

Web 1.0 is the “readable” phrase of the World Wide Web with flat data. In Web 1.0,
there is only limited interaction between sites and web users. Web 1.0 is simply an
information portal where users passively receive information without being given the
opportunity to post reviews, comments, and feedback.
Web 2.0 is the “writable” phrase of the World Wide Web with interactive
data. Unlike Web 1.0, Web 2.0 facilitates interaction between web users and sites, so it
allows users to interact more freely with each other. Web 2.0 encourages participation,
collaboration, and information sharing. Examples of Web 2.0 applications are Wiki,
Social Networking etc.
Web 3.0 is the “executable” phrase of Word Wide Web with dynamic applications,
interactive services, and “machine-to-machine” interaction. Web 3.0 is a semantic web.
In Web 3.0, computers can interpret information like humans and intelligently generate
and distribute useful content tailored to the needs of users. To simplify it further,
machines will be able to read web pages very much like humans. It is a place where
Internet search engines along with software agents will troll the Internet and find what the
user is exactly looking for.

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E-government 1.0, 2.0 and 3.0

E-government 1.0 is the first stage of e-government. It focused on the exploitation of
ICT for supporting and transforming the complex internal processes of government
agencies, aiming to improve their internal efficiency. It had the goal of publishing
information about public services through the use of dedicated Web sites with the only
goal of informing the public about the services they provided, while the consumption of
services was done only through direct contact. Web presence was added as a new
medium of communicating relevant information along with public announcement through
media (television, radio and newspapers). Users were able to communicate with
government bodies directly or through written communication (mail) or telephone
services.
E-Government 2.0 describes user-oriented portal services that are integrated into
and provided through one portal site using technologies, such as RSS, blogs, social
networks, etc., and that are accessible from various channels. Integrating such
technologies into e-government is expected to create opportunities to improve online
public services quality, change the relationship with citizens and businesses.
E-government 3.0 is the smart utilization of some new disruptive ICTs that have
recently emerged, such as big data, Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence,
intelligent bots and agents, business analytics, data mining, distributed ledger
technologies and blockchain, gamification, and computer-based societal simulation to
drive improvements in service delivery, decision and policy making and resource
management.

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