Learning Objectives

By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:

  • Differentiate between the Internet and the World Wide Web.
  • Describe the roles of a web browser and a web server.
  • Explain the basic function of a search engine.

The World Wide Web

It is important to understand the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web (or simply, “the Web”). The Internet is the massive, global network of computers. The World Wide Web is a service that runs on the internet. It is a system of interlinked hypertext documents that are accessed via the internet.

Key components of the Web include:

  • Web Browser: The client software used to view websites (e.g., Chrome, Firefox).
  • Web Server: The server software that stores websites and serves them to browsers upon request.
  • URL (Uniform Resource Locator): The address of a specific resource on the web (e.g., https://www.google.com).

Search Engines

The Web contains billions of pages, and finding information would be impossible without search engines. A search engine is a software system that is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web.

How Search Engines Work

Search engines perform three primary tasks:

  1. Crawling: They use automated programs called “spiders” or “crawlers” to constantly browse the web, following links from one page to another to discover new content.

  2. Indexing: They analyze the content of the pages they crawl and store and organize this information in a massive database called an index.

  3. Ranking: When a user performs a search, the search engine queries its index and uses a complex algorithm to rank the results, aiming to provide the most relevant and authoritative pages first.

  • Examples: Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo.

Summary

The World Wide Web is a service that runs on the internet, providing access to a global collection of interlinked documents. We access the web using a web browser, which requests pages from web servers. To navigate the vast amount of information on the web, we rely on search engines, which continuously crawl, index, and rank web pages to help us find what we are looking for.

Key Takeaways

  • The Web is a service that runs on the Internet.
  • A web browser is a client that requests pages from a web server.
  • Search engines crawl, index, and rank web pages to help users find information.

Discussion Questions

  1. In your own words, what is the difference between the Internet and the World Wide Web?
  2. What is the purpose of a search engine’s index?
  3. Besides Google, what is another search engine you have used? How is it different?