UNIT I - INTRODUCTION TO NETWORKS AND WEB CONCEPTS

History of the Internet and World Wide Web – Internet standards –URLs - CGI- HTML 4
protocols – HTTP, SMTP, POP3, MIME, and IMAP - Introduction to SGML – HTML –
forms – frames – tables
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Introduction to Internet:-
A global computer network providing a variety of information and communication
facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.
"The guide is also available on the Internet". The Internet is the global system of interconnected
computer networks that use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to link devices worldwide. It is a
network of networks that consists of private, public, academic, business, and government
networks of local to global scope, linked by a broad array of electronic, wireless, and optical
networking technologies. The Internet carries a vast range of information resources and services.

History of Internet
This marvellous tool has quite a history that holds its roots in the cold war scenario. A
need was realized to connect the top universities of the United States so that they can share all
the research data without having too much of a time lag. This attempt was a result of Advanced
Research Projects Agency (ARPA) which was formed at the end of 1950s just after the Russians
had climbed the space era with the launch of Sputnik. After the ARPA got success in 1969, it
didn‘t take the experts long to understand that how much potential can this interconnection tool
have. In 1971 Ray Tomlinson made a system to send electronic mail. This was a big step in the
making as this opened gateway for remote computer accessing i.e. telnet. During all this time,
rigorous paper work was being done in all the elite research institutions.
From giving every computer an address to setting out the rules, everything was getting
penned down. 1973 saw the preparations for the vital TCP/IP and Ethernet services. At the end
of 1970s, Usenet groups had surfaced up. By the time the 80s had started, IBM came up with its
PC based on Intel 8088 processor which was widely used by students and universities for it
solved the purpose of easy computing. By 1982, the Defence Agencies made the TCP/IP
compulsory and the term ―internet‖ was coined. The domain name services arrived in the year
1984 which is also the time around which various Internet based marked their debut. A worm, or
a rust the computers, attacked in 1988 and disabled over 10% of the computer systems all over
the world. While most of the researchers regarded it as an opportunity to enhance computing as it
was still in its juvenile phase, quite a number of computer companies became interested in
dissecting the cores of the malware which resulted to the formation Computer Emergency
Rescue Team (CERT). Soon after the world got over with the computer worm, World Wide
Web came into existence. Discovered by Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web was seen as a
service to connect documents in websites using hyperlinks.

World Wide Web

The World Wide Web (abbreviated WWW or the Web) is an information space where
documents and other web resources are identified by Uniform Resource Locators (URLs),
interlinked by hypertext links, and can be accessed via the Internet. English scientist
TimBerners-Lee invented the World Wide Web in 1989. He wrote the first web browser
computer program in 1990 while employed at CERN in Switzerland. The Web browser was
released outside CERN in 1991, first to other research institutions starting in January 1991 and to
the general public on the Internet in August 1991.
The World Wide Web has been central to the development of the Information Age and is
the primary tool billions of people use to interact on the Internet. Web pages are primarily text
documents formatted and annotated with Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). In addition to
formatted text, web pages may contain images, video, audio, and software components that are
rendered in the user's web browser as coherent pages of multimedia content. Embedded
hyperlinks permit users to navigate between web pages. Multiple web pages with a common
theme, a common domain name, or both, make up a website. Website content can largely be
provided by the publisher, or interactively where users contribute content or the content depends
upon the users or their actions. Websites may be mostly informative, primarily for entertainment,
or largely for commercial, governmental, or non-governmental organizational purposes.
WWW is another example of client/server computing. Each time a link is followed, the
client is requesting a document (or graphic or sound file) from a server (also called a Web
server) that's part of the World Wide Web that "serves" up the document. The server uses a
protocol called HTTP or Hyper Text Transport Protocol. The standard for creating hypertext
documents for the WWW is Hyper Text Markup Language or HTML. HTML essentially codes
plain text documents so they can be viewed on the Web.

Internet Standard
In computer network engineering, an Internet Standard (abbreviated as "STD") is a
normative specification of a technology or methodology applicable to the Internet. Internet
Standards are created and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). An Internet
Standard is a special Request for Comments (RFC) or set of RFCs. An RFC that is to become a
Standard or part of a Standard begins as an Internet Draft, and is later (usually after several
revisions) accepted and published by the RFC Editor as an RFC and labelled a Proposed
Standard. Later, an RFC can be labelled Internet Standard.
An Internet Standard is characterized by a high degree of technical maturity and by a
generally held belief that the specified protocol or service provides significant benefit to the
Internet community. Generally Internet Standards cover interoperability of systems on the
Internet through defining protocols, message formats, schemas, and languages. The most
fundamental of the Internet Standards are the ones defining the Internet Protocol.
An Internet Standard ensures that hardware and software produced by different vendors
can work together. Having a standard makes it much easier to develop software and hardware
that link different networks because software and hardware can be developed one layer at a time.
Normally, the standards used in data communication are called protocols.
All Internet Standards are given a number in the STD series - The first document in this
series, STD 1, describes the remaining documents in the series, and has a list of Proposed
Standards.
Each RFC is static; if the document is changed, it is submitted again and assigned a new
RFC number. If an RFC becomes an Internet Standard (STD), it is assigned an STD number but
retains its RFC number. When an Internet Standard is updated, its number stays the same and it
simply refers to a different RFC or set of RFCs. A given Internet Standard, STD n, may be
RFCs x and y at a given time, but later the same standard may be updated to be RFC z instead.
For example, in 2007 RFC 3700 was an Internet Standard—STD 1—and in May 2008 it was
replaced with RFC 5000, so RFC 3700 changed to Historic status, and now STD 1 is RFC 5000.
When STD 1 is updated again, it will simply refer to a newer RFC, but it will still be STD 1.
Note that not all RFCs are standards-track documents, but all Internet Standards and other
standards-track documents are RFCs.
The list of Internet standards in RFC 5000 ends with STD 68 (RFC 5234, ABNF)
published in 2008. It does not cover STD 69 (a set of five EPP RFCs), STD 70 (RFC 5652,
CMS) published in 2009, STD 71 (RFC 6152, 8BITMIME), and STD 72 (RFC 6409, Mail
Submission) published in 2011.

URLs –
Uniform Resource Locator (URL)
 A client that wants to access the document in an internet needs an address and to facilitate
the access of documents, the HTTP uses the concept of Uniform Resource Locator
(URL).
 The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is a standard way of specifying any kind of
information on the internet.
 The URL defines four parts: method, host computer, port, and path.

 Method: The method is the protocol used to retrieve the document from a server. For
example, HTTP.
 Host: The host is the computer where the information is stored, and the computer is
given an alias name. Web pages are mainly stored in the computers and the computers are
given an alias name that begins with the characters "www". This field is not mandatory.
 Port: The URL can also contain the port number of the server, but it's an optional field. If
the port number is included, then it must come between the host and path and it should be
separated from the host by a colon.
 Path: Path is the pathname of the file where the information is stored. The path itself
contain slashes that separate the directories from the subdirectories and files.

CGI
The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) is a standard that facilitates communication
between web servers and external databases or information sources. It acts as middleware,
allowing web servers to interact with applications that process data and send back responses.
The CGI standard was defined by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and specifies how
a program interacts with a Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.

Features of CGI:
 It is a very well-defined and supported standard.
 CGI scripts are generally written in languages such as Perl, C, or shell scripts. For example,
a simple Perl script could be used to process form data submitted from a web page and
generate a dynamic response.
 CGI allows applications to interface with HTML, enabling dynamic content generation for
web pages. For example, a CGI script can be used to fetch data from a database and
generate dynamic HTML content for display on a web page.
 CGI is the best method to create a counter because it is currently the quickest
 CGI standard is generally the most compatible with today’s browsers

HTML 4 protocols – HTTP, SMTP, POP3, MIME, and IMAP

Basically, a protocol is about a standard method used at each end of a communication
channel, in order to properly transmit information. In order to deal with your email you must use
a mail client to access a mail server. The mail client and mail server can exchange information
with each other using a variety of protocols.

IMAP Protocol:
IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) – Is a standard protocol for accessing e-mail
from your local server. IMAP is a client/server protocol in which e-mail is received and held for
you by your Internet server. As this requires only a small data transfer this works well even over
a slow connection such as a modem. Only if you request to read a specific email message will it
be downloaded from the server. You can also create and manipulate folders or mailboxes on the
server, delete messages etc.
IMAP stands for Internet Message Access Protocol. It was first proposed in 1986. There exist
five versions of IMAP as follows:
1. Original IMAP
2. IMAP2
3. IMAP3
4. IMAP2bis
5. IMAP4

Key Points:
 IMAP allows the client program to manipulate the e-mail message on the server without
downloading them on the local computer.
 The e-mail is hold and maintained by the remote server.
 It enables us to take any action such as downloading, delete the mail without reading the
mail.It enables us to create, manipulate and delete remote message folders called mail
boxes.
 IMAP enables the users to search the e-mails.
 It allows concurrent access to multiple mailboxes on multiple mail servers.
Example Commands: IMAP_LOGIN, CAPABILITY, NOOP, SELECT,

POP3 Protocol:
The POP (Post Office Protocol 3) protocol provides a simple, standardized way for
users to access mailboxes and download messages to their computers.
When using the POP protocol all your eMail messages will be downloaded from the mail server
to your local computer. You can choose to leave copies of your eMails on the server as well. The
advantage is that once your messages are downloaded you can cut the internet connection and
read your eMail at your leisure without incuring further communication costs. On the other hand
you might have transferred a lot of message (including spam or viruses) in which you are not at
all interested at this point.
POP stands for Post Office Protocol. It is generally used to support a single client. There are
several versions of POP but the POP 3 is the current standard.
Key Points
 POP is an application layer internet standard protocol.
 Since POP supports offline access to the messages, thus requires less internet usage time.
 POP does not allow search facility.
 In order to access the messaged, it is necessary to download them.
 It allows only one mailbox to be created on server.
 It is not suitable for accessing non mail data.
 POP commands are generally abbreviated into codes of three or four letters. Eg. STAT.
Example Commands: LOGIN, STAT, LIST, RETR, DELE

SMTP Protocol:
The SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) protocol is used by the Mail Transfer
Agent (MTA) to deliver your eMail to the recipient's mail server. The SMTP protocol can only
be used to send emails, not to receive them. Depending on your network / ISP settings, you may
only be able to use the SMTP protocol under certain conditions
MTP stands for Simple Mail Transfer Protocol. It was first proposed in 1982. It is a standard
protocol used for sending e-mail efficiently and reliably over the internet.

Key Points:
 SMTP is application level protocol.
 SMTP is connection oriented protocol.
 SMTP is text based protocol.
 It handles exchange of messages between e-mail servers over TCP/IP network.
 Apart from transferring e-mail, SMPT also provides notification regarding incoming
mail.
 When you send e-mail, your e-mail client sends it to your e-mail server which further
contacts the recipient mail server using SMTP client.
 These SMTP commands specify the sender’s and receiver’s e-mail address, along with
the message to be send.
 The exchange of commands between servers is carried out without intervention of any
user.
 In case, message cannot be delivered, an error report is sent to the sender which makes
SMTP a reliable protocol.
Example Commands: HELLO, MAIL FROM, RCPT TO, DATA, VERFY

HTTP Protocol:
HTTP
 HTTP stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol.
 It is a protocol used to access the data on the World Wide Web (www).
  The HTTP protocol can be used to transfer the data in the form of plain text, hypertext,
audio, video, and so on.
 This protocol is known as HyperText Transfer Protocol because of its efficiency that
allows us to use in a hypertext environment where there are rapid jumps from one
document to another document.
 HTTP is similar to the FTP as it also transfers the files from one host to another host. But,
HTTP is simpler than FTP as HTTP uses only one connection, i.e., no control connection
to transfer the files.
 HTTP is used to carry the data in the form of MIME-like format.
 HTTP is similar to SMTP as the data is transferred between client and server. The HTTP
differs from the SMTP in the way the messages are sent from the client to the server and
from server to the client. SMTP messages are stored and forwarded while HTTP
messages are delivered immediately.

Features of HTTP:
 Connectionless protocol: HTTP is a connectionless protocol. HTTP client initiates a
request and waits for a response from the server. When the server receives the request,
the server processes the request and sends back the response to the HTTP client after
which the client disconnects the connection. The connection between client and server
exist only during the current request and response time only.
 Media independent: HTTP protocol is a media independent as data can be sent as long
as both the client and server know how to handle the data content. It is required for both
the client and server to specify the content type in MIME-type header.
 Stateless: HTTP is a stateless protocol as both the client and server know each other only
during the current request. Due to this nature of the protocol, both the client and server do
not retain the information between various requests of the web pages.
HTTP Transactions

The above figure shows the HTTP transaction between client and server. The client initiates a
transaction by sending a request message to the server. The server replies to the request message
by sending a response message.

Messages
HTTP messages are of two types: request and response. Both the message types follow the same
message format.

Request Message: The request message is sent by the client that consists of a request line,
headers, and sometimes a body.
Response Message: The response message is sent by the server to the client that consists of a
status line, headers, and sometimes a body.

Introduction to SGML
 SGML stands for Standard Generalized Markup Language. It can be defined as the
standard for defining generalized markup language for documents. It was developed and
designed by the International Organization for Standards i.e ISO.

HTML was theoretically an example of an SGML-based language until HTML 5,

which browsers cannot parse as SGML for compatibility reasons. The SGML is extended
from GML and later on it is extended to HTML and XML.
The extension of SGML files is: .sgml

Syntax:
<NAME TYPE="user">
Geeks for Geeks
</NAME>
SGML code typically looks like:
<EMAIL>
<SENDER>
<PERSON>
<FIRSTNAME>GEEKSFORGEEKS</LASTNAME>
</PERSON>
</SENDER>
<BODY>
<p>Hello, Welcome to GEEKSFORGEEKS</p>
</BODY>
</EMAIL>

Characteristics
 The SGML Declarations.
 The Prologue, containing a DOCTYPE declaration with the various markup declarations
that together make a DTD i.e Document Type Definition.
 The instance itself, containing one top-most element and its contents

Components of an SGML Document :

There are mainly three components of SGML document. They are –
1. SGML Declaration
2. Prolog
3. Document instance.

Advantages
 It has the capability to encode the full structure of the document and can support any
media type.
 It is of much more use than HTML which provides capabilities to code visual
representation and not to structure the real piece of information.
 Separates content from appearance.
 SGML files encoding is allowed for more complex formatting as compared to HTML.
 The Stylesheets present in SGML make the content to use for different purposes.
 Extremely flexible.
 Well supported with many tools available because of ISO standard.

HTML – forms
An HTML form is used to collect user input. The user input is most often sent to a server for
processing.
Example
First name:
John

Last name:
Doe

Submit

The HTML <form> element is used to create an HTML form for user input:
<form>
form elements
</form>
The <form> element is a container for different types of input elements, such as: text
fields, checkboxes, radio buttons, submit buttons, etc.
All the different form elements are covered in this chapter: HTML Form Elements.

The <input> Element

The HTML <input> element is the most used form element.
An <input> element can be displayed in many ways, depending on the type attribute.
Here are some examples:
Type Description

<input type="text"> Displays a single-line text input field

<input type="radio"> Displays a radio button (for selecting one of many choices)

<input Displays a checkbox (for selecting zero or more of many

type="checkbox"> choices)

<input type="submit"> Displays a submit button (for submitting the form)

<input type="button"> Displays a clickable button

Example
A form with input fields for text:
<form>
<label for="fname">First name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="fname" name="fname"><br>
<label for="lname">Last name:</label><br>
<input type="text" id="lname" name="lname">
</form>
This is how the HTML code above will be displayed in a browser:
First name:

Last name:

HTML frames
HTML frames are used to divide your browser window into multiple sections where each
section can load a separate HTML document. A collection of frames in the browser window is
known as a frameset. The window is divided into frames in a similar way the tables are
organized: into rows and columns.

Disadvantages of Frames
There are few drawbacks with using frames, so it's never recommended to use frames in your
webpages
 Some smaller devices cannot cope with frames often because their screen is not big
enough to be divided up.
 Sometimes your page will be displayed differently on different computers due to different
screen resolution.
 The browser's back button might not work as the user hopes.
 There are still few browsers that do not support frame technology.

Creating Frames
To use frames on a page we use <frameset> tag instead of <body> tag. The <frameset>
tag defines, how to divide the window into frames. The rows attribute of <frameset> tag defines
horizontal frames and cols attribute defines vertical frames. Each frame is indicated by <frame>
tag and it defines which HTML document shall open into the frame.

Note − The <frame> tag deprecated in HTML5. Do not use this element.
Example
Following is the example to create three horizontal frames −
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>HTML Frames</title>
</head>
<frameset rows = "10%,80%,10%">
<frame name = "top" src = "/html/top_frame.htm" />
<frame name = "main" src = "/html/main_frame.htm" />
<frame name = "bottom" src = "/html/bottom_frame.htm" />
<noframes>
<body>Your browser does not support frames.</body>
</noframes>
</frameset>
</html>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>HTML Frames</title>
</head>
<frameset cols = "25%,50%,25%">
<frame name = "left" src = "/html/top_frame.htm" />
<frame name = "center" src = "/html/main_frame.htm" />
<frame name = "right" src = "/html/bottom_frame.htm" />
<noframes>
<body>Your browser does not support frames.</body>
</noframes>
</frameset>
</html>
The <frameset> Tag Attributes
Following are important attributes of the <frameset> tag −
Sr.No Attribute & Description

1 cols

2 rows

3 border

4 frameborder

5 framespacing

The <frame> Tag Attributes

Following are the important attributes of <frame> tag −
Sr.No Attribute & Description

1 src

2 name

3 frameborder

4 marginwidth

5 marginheight

6 noresize
 7 scrolling

8 longdesc

HTML tables
The HTML tables allow web authors to arrange data like text, images, links, other tables,
etc. into rows and columns of cells.
The HTML tables are created using the <table> tag in which the <tr> tag is used to
create table rows and <td> tag is used to create data cells. The elements under <td> are regular
and left aligned by default
Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>HTML Tables</title>
</head>
<body>
<table border = "1">
<tr>
<td>Row 1, Column 1</td>
<td>Row 1, Column 2</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Row 2, Column 1</td>
<td>Row 2, Column 2</td>
</tr>
</table>
</body>
</html>
This will produce the following result
Row 1, Column 1 Row 1, Column 2
Row 2, Column 1 Row 2, Column 2

Here, the border is an attribute of <table> tag and it is used to put a border across all the
cells. If you do not need a border, then you can use border = "0". Example
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<title>HTML Table Header</title>
</head>
<body>
 <table border = "1">
<tr>
<th>Name</th>
<th>Salary</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Ramesh Raman</td>
<td>5000</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Shabbir Hussein</td>
<td>7000</td>
</tr>
</table> </body> </html>
This will produce the following result −

Name Salary
Ramesh Raman 5000
Shabbir Hussein 7000