Difference between World Wide Web and Internet
Yes, that’s true. Internet and World Wide Web, though, so often used interchangeably, are not the same. The Internet is a vast network of computers connected globally to exchange information. It is a huge infrastructure which facilitates exchange of information by the means of various information sharing models. The World Wide Web is one such model. Hence, www as the World Wide Web is generally known as is a subset of the Internet.
World Wide Web
The Internet has been around since 1969 when scientists at Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) first developed ARPANET, which was a network of university computers. More and more computers kept on adding to the network and the vast world of Internet began to take its shape. But, arguably, the real boost to the expanse of Internet came only after the invention of the World Wide Web.
In 1989, a scientist named Tim Berners-Lee developed the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), an Internet standard which the Web heavily relies on for locating and getting the information stored on other computers. This soon led to a kind of revolution in the field of how people received and transmitted information on the Internet. The new protocol made it all very easier and user-friendly. Soon, browsers which could support the new protocol were developed and the Web, as we know it today first came to picture. As the name suggests, Web is the hyperlinked network of texts, images, urls etc which we all are familiar with. The web, hence, comprises that part of the Internet which uses HTTP. Emails, instant messaging, usenet news groups, ftp etc. are not a part of the Web but comprise the Internet.
World Wide Web quick facts
- The Web consists of an estimated 25.8 billion Web pages as of December 20, 2008 (source: www.worldwidewebsize.com)
- http://info.cern.ch is the world's first website
- The concept of global information system dates back to at least 1959, when Isaac Asimov in his short story 'Anniversary' mentions a 'planet wide network of circuits' connecting home computers to a super computer for information sharing.