Difference between revisions of "Web history"
From Internet User Guide
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==Precursors to the Web== | ==Precursors to the Web== | ||
| − | The concept of [[ | + | The concept of [[hypertext]], which underlies the Web, originated in the 1960s, with projects such as Ted Nelson's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Xanadu Project Xanadu], Douglas Engelbart's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NLS_%28computer_system%29 oN-Line System], and Andries van Dam's [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext_Editing_System Hypertext Editing System]. Both Nelson and Engelbart were inspired by Vannevar Bush's |
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex Memex], a micro-film system which Bush imagined in the 1945 essay "As We May Think". | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memex Memex], a micro-film system which Bush imagined in the 1945 essay "As We May Think". | ||
| − | Before developing the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee built an earlier [[ | + | Before developing the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee built an earlier [[hypertext]] system at CERN in Switzerland in 1980, which he called [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENQUIRE ENQUIRE]. This stand-alone database used bi-directional [[hyperlink]]s and provided an editor for easy creation of the links. |
Berners-Lee's original proposal for the web was modeled after the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynatext Dynatext] system, for which CERN had a license. Dynatext was a powerful tool for reading documents annotated with [[Standard Generalized Markup Language]] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGML SGML]), but it was considered too expensive for widespread use, since the license imposed a fee each time any document was changed. | Berners-Lee's original proposal for the web was modeled after the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynatext Dynatext] system, for which CERN had a license. Dynatext was a powerful tool for reading documents annotated with [[Standard Generalized Markup Language]] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SGML SGML]), but it was considered too expensive for widespread use, since the license imposed a fee each time any document was changed. | ||
==Tim Berners-Lee launches the Web== | ==Tim Berners-Lee launches the Web== | ||
| − | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee's] innovative contribution was to develop a practical way to combine [[ | + | [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Berners-Lee Tim Berners-Lee's] innovative contribution was to develop a practical way to combine [[hypertext]] with the [[Internet]]. |
| − | In March 1989 Berners-Lee wrote a short document called [http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal], describing an information management system using [[ | + | In March 1989 Berners-Lee wrote a short document called [http://www.w3.org/History/1989/proposal.html Information Management: A Proposal], describing an information management system using [[hypertext]]. This first paper envisaged browsers on client computers that would have read-only access to hypertext documents and databases stored on several different servers. The documents would be transmitted over the network in a standardized hypertext format. |
| − | In November 1990, Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau published a more formal proposal, titled [http://www.w3.org/Proposal.html WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a HyperText Project]. This proposal described the web as a network of links that would allow you to navigate from one node to another, where each node was a hypertext document. It was noted that a world-wide web would require a standard access protocol for requesting documents from remote servers, and a standard information format for the transmitted documents. The proposal also mentioned the possibility of providing a keyword search option (this would later be provided by [[ | + | In November 1990, Berners-Lee and Robert Cailliau published a more formal proposal, titled [http://www.w3.org/Proposal.html WorldWideWeb: Proposal for a HyperText Project]. This proposal described the web as a network of links that would allow you to navigate from one node to another, where each node was a hypertext document. It was noted that a world-wide web would require a standard access protocol for requesting documents from remote servers, and a standard information format for the transmitted documents. The proposal also mentioned the possibility of providing a keyword search option (this would later be provided by [[search engine]]s). |
By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built the basic tools necessary for a working Web: | By Christmas 1990, Berners-Lee had built the basic tools necessary for a working Web: | ||
| − | *the first [[ | + | *the first [[web browser]], called WorldWideWeb (later renamed Nexus), which was also a Web editor |
| − | *the first [[ | + | *the first [[web server]] (running on a NeXT computer using the NeXTSTEP platform) |
| − | *the set of first [[ | + | *the set of first [[web page]]s, which described the project itself (archived [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html here]) |
Berners-Lee presented the WorldWideWeb browser to the CERN ECP/PT group on February 26, 1991 (a link to the presentation can be found under that date in [http://www.w3.org/History.html this timeline]. | Berners-Lee presented the WorldWideWeb browser to the CERN ECP/PT group on February 26, 1991 (a link to the presentation can be found under that date in [http://www.w3.org/History.html this timeline]. | ||
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==Development of URI, HTTP and HTML== | ==Development of URI, HTTP and HTML== | ||
| − | Along with the first [[ | + | Along with the first [[web browser]] and [[web server]], Berners-Lee also developed the basic Web protocols, including: |
| − | *a system for naming individual documents on the Web: the | + | *a system for naming individual documents on the Web: the Universal Document Identifier (UDI) - now called [[Uniform Resource Identifier]] (URI) |
*a network access protocol: the [[HyperText Transfer Protocol]] (HTTP) | *a network access protocol: the [[HyperText Transfer Protocol]] (HTTP) | ||
| − | *a publishing language for Web documents: [[HyperText Markup Language]] (HTML) | + | *a publishing language for Web documents: [[HTML|HyperText Markup Language]] (HTML) |
===Universal Document Identifier (UDI) - now called Universal Resource Identifier (URI)=== | ===Universal Document Identifier (UDI) - now called Universal Resource Identifier (URI)=== | ||
| − | The 1990 [http://www.w3.org/Proposal.html proposal] described a Web link as an ASCII string from which the browser would deduce how to contact an appropriate server and request a particular document. In [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Addressing | + | The 1990 [http://www.w3.org/Proposal.html proposal] described a Web link as an ASCII string from which the browser would deduce how to contact an appropriate server and request a particular document. In [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Addressing documents from 1992] this link was being called a "hypertext name" or "file name". The general format of a hypertext name [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Addressing/Addressing.html was specified] as follows: |
| − | documents from 1992] this link was being called a "hypertext name" or "file name". The general format of a hypertext name [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Addressing/Addressing.html was specified] as follows: | + | |
:scheme://host.domain:port/path/path#anchor | :scheme://host.domain:port/path/path#anchor | ||
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:file://cernvax.cern.ch/usr/lib/WWW/defaut.html#123 | :file://cernvax.cern.ch/usr/lib/WWW/defaut.html#123 | ||
| − | The "file" scheme has since been replaced by the "ftp" scheme, since [[File Transfer Protocol | + | The "file" scheme has since been replaced by the "ftp" scheme, since [[File Transfer Protocol]] has become the standard internet protocol for file transfer. |
The general form of a name under the "http" protocol [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Addressing/HTTPAddressing.html was specified in 1992] as follows (the parts in brackets are optional): | The general form of a name under the "http" protocol [http://www.w3.org/History/19921103-hypertext/hypertext/WWW/Addressing/HTTPAddressing.html was specified in 1992] as follows (the parts in brackets are optional): | ||
| − | :http://hostname[: port]/path[?searchwords] | + | :http : //hostname[: port]/path[?searchwords] |
For example, the name of an HTML document on one of the cern servers was: | For example, the name of an HTML document on one of the cern servers was: | ||
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:http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html | :http://info.cern.ch/hypertext/WWW/TheProject.html | ||
| − | Berners-Lee originally called this sort of hypertext document name a | + | Berners-Lee originally called this sort of hypertext document name a Universal Document Identifier (UDI). However (see the footnote [http://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/Model.html here]), this was changed to Universal Resource Identifier in discussions within the URI working Group of the [[Internet Engineering Task Force]] (IETF), and is now called the [[Uniform Resource Identifier]] |
Meanwhile, the term [[Uniform Resource Locator]] (URL) was introduced to denote a string that provided an address for a resource, while the term Uniform Resource Name (URN) came to represent a string that merely names a resource. URL and URN are types of URIs (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier URI]. | Meanwhile, the term [[Uniform Resource Locator]] (URL) was introduced to denote a string that provided an address for a resource, while the term Uniform Resource Name (URN) came to represent a string that merely names a resource. URL and URN are types of URIs (see [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_Resource_Identifier URI]. | ||
