Write down short notes on the architecture of WWW which is World Wide Web.

WWW which means The World Wide web or the web is a repository of information spread worldwide and related together.  The  WWW  has  the  unique  combination  of portability, flexibility and user-friendly  features  which distinguish  it from other  services  provided  by the Internet.

The WWW project was initiated by the CERN (which means European Laboratory for Particle Physics) to create the system to handle distributed resources essential for scientific research. The WWW today is the distributed client-server service, in which a client making use of a browser can access a service using a server. Though, the service given is distributed over number of locations called websites.

The web comprises of many web pages which incorporate text, sound, graphics, animation and other multimedia components. These web pages are linked to one another by hypertext. In a hypertext environment the information is stored by making use of the concept of pointers. WWW uses a concept of HTTP which permits communicating between a web browser and the web server. The web pages can be formed by using a HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language). This language has several commands which are used to inform browser about the way of displaying the text, graphics and the multimedia files. HTML also has several commands through which we can give links to web pages.

If we want to get the page from web, we should type URL (Uniform Resource Locator) ‘for the required page, or otherwise we have to click on a link which provides the URL. The URL specifies internet address of the web server, the directory and name of the required page. If there is no directory or web page specified, then web server will give us a default home page.

The WWW today is a distributed client-server service, in which the client making use of a browser can access a service using a server. Figure drawn below illustrates how the different web site can communicate amongst them.