Exchanging Data: Web Technologies

The World Wide Web is an information system on the internet, allowing documents and other web resources to be identified by URLs and interlinked by hypertext links.
HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is a protocol for transferring hypertext requests and information between servers and browsers.
HTTPS (HTTP Secure) is an extension of HTTP, used for secure communication over a computer network; in this case, the internet. It is encrypted in order to increase data protection and privacy.
HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) is the standard language for creating web pages and web applications. It provides a means to create structured documents by denoting structural semantics for text such as headings, paragraphs, links, quotes and other items.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is used to describe the look and formatting (e.g., colors, layout, fonts) of a document written in HTML. It separates document content from document presentation.
JavaScript enables interactive web pages and is a vital part of web applications. It interacts with HTML and CSS to allow for dynamic and interactive elements on web pages.
Web browsers interpret HTML, CSS and JavaScript to render web pages. Common web browsers include Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Microsoft Edge.
Servers are computer programs or devices that serve information to other programs or devices, known as clients.
When a client device (like a computer or smartphone) wants to access a web page, it sends a request to the server hosting the web page.
One key web technology is the web server, typically a powerful computer that hosts websites and serves web pages to users. The most widely used web server is Apache.
Cookies are small pieces of data stored on the user’s computer by the web browser while browsing a website. They are designed to be a reliable storage for websites to remember stateful information or record the user’s browsing activity.
Web services (APIs: Application Programming Interfaces) allow different software systems to communicate and exchange data with each other. They are a fundamental web technology, enabling dynamic, real-time data updating in web applications.
Web 2.0 refers to websites that emphasize user-generated content, ease of use, collaborative, and interoperability.
SQL is commonly used by websites for querying and managing data in a database. Another approach is NoSQL, being particularly useful where data doesn’t follow a strict structure, and scales horizontally.
The Internet of Things (IoT) involves connecting devices to the internet, allowing them to send and receive data. This has implications for web technologies as it may require new protocols and data formats.