Introduction
Before you can understand how to program the web, you need a more rigorous understanding of the web itself than you likely have now. These concepts provide a more holistic understanding of the ecosystem in which you will be working and will enable you to talk intelligently with other developers about your work.
Lesson overview
This section contains a general overview of topics that you will learn in this lesson.
- Describe what the internet is.
- Describe what packets are and how they are used to transfer data.
- Understand the differences between a web page, web server, web browser and search engine.
- Briefly explain what a client is.
- Briefly explain what a server is.
- Explain what IP addresses are.
- Explain what DNS servers are.
Assignment
- Watch this BBC short for an overview of how the internet works.
- Read this Mozilla article on “How does the internet work?”.
- Watch How the Internet Works in 5 Minutes.
- Read up on the differences between a web page, a web server, and a search engine.
- Watch this Google short explaining what a web browser is. Then, use this site to find out your current web browser and version.
- Read about how different parts of the web interact with each other and read this MDN article about how a DNS request works. Alternatively, here is a video about how a DNS request works.