Over the past few years, we have encountered a lot of confusion between some very common terms in the computer world, terms that are used interchangeably on a regular basis. Some people wonder what is the difference, if any, between the “Internet” and the “World Wide Web”. There is a difference between the two, as the Internet goes back to the 1960’s, whereas the World Wide Web was invented in 1989.
The internet is a global network of physical electronic devices that are linked together. Let’s break this down even more. Let’s say we have a bunch of computers or servers that are connected to each other. These computers are called physical electronic devices (known as hardware) that can be connected or linked together through an interconnected network, which we can shorten to "Internet". The internet was originally used by the government, but by the 1980’s, it was released for use in academia. Now, it is used by all sorts of industries and sectors across the globe, including but not limited to governments, academics, private uses, public organizations, and businesses. The hardware are connected by cables or wireless routers, and they work on what is called Internet Protocol Suite or TCP/IP, which comes from Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet protocol (IP).
In 1989, the first web browser was created. It was called WorldWideWeb. The web is viewed via the Internet and consists of web pages connected by embedded “Hyperlinks” and “Uniform Resource Locators” (URL’s), which webs them together. Hyperlinks let users navigate between web pages. URL’s are also known as a web address and it specifies a web pages location on a computer network or server. It is usually identified at the top of a page by http:// or https:// if it is a secure website.
The World Wide Web is only one of the services of the Internet. It involves a person opening a web browser and using a search engine to search for information on web pages.
