What is the difference between the internet and the World Wide Web essay?

Do many folks consider that they both are the same but are they really the same?

The Internet is a global network of networks while the Web, also referred formally as World Wide Web (www) is a collection of information that is accessed via the Internet. Another way to look at this difference is; the Internet is infrastructure while the Web is served on top of that infrastructure. Alternatively, the Internet can be viewed as a big book store while the Web can be viewed as a collection of books on that store. At a high level, we can even think of the Internet as hardware and the Web as software!

Web applications use HTTP protocol which is a layer over TCP protocol. Whereas internet applications can use either TCP or UDP protocol. To visualize the difference think of it as the internet is a network of many computers connected together so you can use any port say 90 to send or receive data whereas in web port is fixed as HTTP uses port 80 to communicate and also the data which is sent is HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. So if you want a feel of internet application make a socket connection at a random port and send data to another computer via the socket. So in this case you are using the internet for communication and not the web.

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The Internet and the World Wide Web play an important role in everyday life. Nonetheless, the Internet contributes to the connection between the computer and the storage of the files. In turn, the World Wide Web enables the access with the assistance of the hypertexts. In the end, the principles of the World Wide Web have evolved over a period, and now Web 2.0 provides a wider range of opportunities for users. Lastly, the RSS technology is beneficial to Web 2.0 due to the ability to summarize the content to subscribers.

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What is the Internet?

The Internet is a computer network, which contributes to the storage of the information (Johnson, 1995). Moreover, the information system components are linked with each other by using the Internet Protocols and enable the communication between the users (The Internet, 2010). As for the applications and usage of the Internet, the key uses include using the email, accessing news, remote login, and sharing and transferring files (The Internet, 2010). Nonetheless, the development of the World Wide Web expanded its opportunities and made it available for a wide range of users due to its interactivity, comfort, ergonomics, and expanded functions. Additionally, the Internet expands its capabilities and allows conducting video conferences, broadcasting, streaming, and having P2P applications (The Internet, 2010). In the end, the Internet is a necessary attribute of the everyday life due to its ability to combine all the necessary functions while being easy in usage.

What is the World Wide Web?

The World Wide Web is a combination of the Internet servers, which utilizes hyperlinks and HTTP language to retrieve the data such as documents, pictures, audio and videos (Baldauf & Stair, 2010). The primary goal is to connect the computers. This aspect contributes to the creation of sufficient communication between the users. The World Wide Web is applied for linking the documents, communication between the users by using protocols, and the creation of the documents and a network between them (Baldauf & Stair, 2010). In this instance, the hyperlink is the core tool while connecting the documents with each other while using the World Wide Web. The hyperlink contributes to having access to the right file at the right time. In the end, the World Wide Web is an essential instrument for communication in modern society due to the importance of the Internet connection nowadays.

What is the relationship between the World Wide Web and the Internet?

The Internet is a combination of hardware and software, which connects the computers in one network. In turn, the web constitutes the main image of the Internet as being an application such as email. In the end, the web is the simple interface, which makes the usage of the Internet easy (Johnson, 1995). In this instance, the World Wide Web can be referred to as the software, which is utilized to retrieve the data, which is demanded by the users of the Internet (Baldauf & Stair, 2010). In turn, the Internet is a sufficient database, which is constructed by connecting multiple computers. In the end, the World Wide Web enables the sufficient functioning of the Internet and makes it easy to use by the regular users by using a creative, interesting, and comfortable software. In this instance, the resources of the Internet are available to the public.

What are three purported differences between the World Wide Web as it first emerged, and the more recent Web 2.0?

Firstly, CompuServe Information Service existed, and it contributed to the development of GIFs and allowed having access to the email, forums, files, and chat (Eppink, 2014). Nowadays, the functions of Web 2.0 are more spread, as the social networks have a tendency to exist and enhance different kinds of communications (Geogensu & Popescul, 2015). Furthermore, Web 2.0 uses advanced technology and instruments such as RSS feeds, streaming, blogs, and social networks (Arya & Mishra, 2012). In turn, the firstly established World Wide Web used the principles of hypertext, which created complications for the regular users (Turnbull, 2010). In the case of Web 2.0, it is more simplified, and the applications are easy and interactive to utilize by the average users. In the end, the primary differences are the variety of instruments and opportunities and comfortability in usage, as, nowadays, software is more interactive and easy to utilize.

What is RSS and why is it significant to Web 2.0?

The RSS (Really Simple Syndication) technology can be defined as the World Wide Web instrument, which allows, “the subscribers receive daily or periodic updates of their favorite blogs” (Baldauf & Stair, 2010). In this instance, this tool utilizes the XML to provide the subscribers with the desired content on a regular basis. It remains evident that the RSS technology plays a significant role in the Web 2.0 development, as this approach contributes to the development of the structured feed of the blogs, which can be actively promoted in the social networks. The primary benefit of using the RSS technology in Web 2.0 is the ability to deliver the summarized data of the updates and deliver it to the final subscribers of the blog. In the end, the RSS approach is an essential attribute, as it can be used for various purposes such as educational (Lee, Miller, & Newnman, 2008).

References

Arya, H., & Mishra, J. (2012). Oh! Web 2.0, virtual reference service 2.0, tools & techniques (II). Journal of Library and Information Services in Distance Learning, 6(1), 28-46. Web.

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Baldauf, K., & Stair, R. (2010). Succeeding with Technology: Computer concepts for your life. Boston, MA: Course Technology Cengage Learning.

Eppink, J. (2014). A brief history of GIF (so far). Journal of Visual Culture, 13, 298-306.

Geogensu, M., & Popescul, D. (2015). Social media – The new paradigm of collaboration and communication for the business environment. Procedia Economics and Finance, 20, 277-282. Web.

Johnson, A. (1995). The Internet and the World Wide Web explained. Journal of Audiovisual Media in Medicine, 18(3), 109–113. Web.

Lee, M., Miller, C., & Newnman, L. (2008). RSS and content syndication in higher education: Subscribing to the new model of teaching and learning. Educational Media International, 45(4), 311-322. Web.

The Internet. (2010). Web.

Turnbull, P. (2010). Historians, computing and the World Wide Web. Australian Historical Studies, 41(2), 131-148. Web.

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The World Wide Web (WWW) is one set of software services running on the Internet. The Internet itself is a global, interconnected network of computing devices. This network supports a wide variety of interactions and communications between its devices. The World Wide Web is a subset of these interactions and supports websites and URIs.

The Internet is actually a huge network that is accessible to everyone & everywhere across the world. The network is composed of sub-networks comprising of a number of computers that are enabled to transmit data in packets. The internet is governed by a set of rules, laws & regulations, collectively known as the Internet Protocol (IP). The sub-networks may range from defense networks to academic networks to commercial networks to individual PCs. Internet, essentially provides information & services in the form of E-Mail, chat & file transfers. It also provides access to the World Wide Web & other interlinked web pages.

The Internet & the World Wide Web (the Web), though used interchangeably, are not synonymous. Internet is the hardware part - it is a collection of computer networks connected through either copper wires, fiber-optic cables or wireless connections whereas, the World Wide Web can be termed as the software part – it is a collection of web pages connected through hyperlinks and URLs. In short, the World Wide Web is one of the services provided by the Internet. Other services over the Internet include e-mail, chat and file transfer services. All of these services can be provided to consumers for use by businesses or government or by individuals creating their own networks or platforms.

Another method to differentiate between both is using the Protocol Suite – a collection of laws & regulations that govern the Internet. While internet is governed by the Internet Protocol – specifically dealing with data as whole and their transmission in packets, the World Wide Web is governed by the Hyper Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) that deals with the linking of files, documents and other resources of the World Wide Web.

History

The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) created by the US in 1958 as a reply to the USSR’s launching of the Sputnik, led to creation of a department called the Information Processing Technology Office (IPTO) which started the Semi Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE) that linked all the radar systems of US together. With tremendous research happening across the world, the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) got the ARPANET, a smaller version of the Internet in 1969. Since then Internet has taken huge strides in terms of technology and connectivity to reach its current position. In 1978, the International Packet Switched Service (IPSS) was created in Europe by the British Post Office in collaboration with Tymnet & Western Union International and this network slowly spread its wings to the US and Australia. In 1983, the first Wide Area Network (WAN) was created by the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the US called the NSFnet. All these sub-networks merged together post 1985 with new definitions of the Transfer Control Protocols of the Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) for optimization of resources.

The Web was invented by Sir Tim Berners Lee. In March 1989, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal that described the Web as an elaborate information management system. With help from Robert Cailliau, he published a more formal proposal for the World Wide Web on November 12, 1990. By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built all the tools necessary for a working Web: the first web browser (which was a web editor as well), the first web server, and the first Web pages which described the project itself. On August 6, 1991, he posted a short summary of the World Wide Web project on the alt.hypertext newsgroup. This date also marked the debut of the Web as a publicly available service on the Internet.

Berners-Lee's breakthrough was to marry hypertext to the Internet. In his book Weaving The Web, he explains that he had repeatedly suggested that a marriage between the two technologies was possible to members of both technical communities, but when no one took up his invitation, he finally tackled the project himself. In the process, he developed a system of globally unique identifiers for resources on the Web and elsewhere: the Uniform Resource Identifier.

The World Wide Web had a number of differences from other hypertext systems that were then available. The Web required only unidirectional links rather than bidirectional ones. This made it possible for someone to link to another resource without action by the owner of that resource. It also significantly reduced the difficulty of implementing web servers and browsers (in comparison to earlier systems), but in turn presented the chronic problem of link rot. Unlike predecessors such as HyperCard, the World Wide Web was non-proprietary, making it possible to develop servers and clients independently and to add extensions without licensing restrictions.

For more details see The History of the Internet and The History of the World Wide Web.

Internet of Things

In recent years, the phrase Internet of Things—or IoT—has been used to denote a subset of the Internet that connects physical devices, such as home appliances, vehicles, industrial sensors. Historically the devices connected to the Internet have been computers, cell phones and tablets. With the Internet of Things, other devices like refrigerators, HVAC systems, light bulbs, cars, thermostats, video cameras, and locks can also connect to the Internet. This allows better monitoring and more control of the physical world through the Internet.

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