Web Technology and Applications

ISM301
Lecture 1a
Introduction
 Course Information
• Instructor: Amina Fadila Shehu
• Class time: Mondays 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM and
Thursdays 12:00 - 2:00 PM
• Email: [email protected]
 Grading
• 15% - Quizzes/Class participation/Assignments
• 15% - Term Project/Presentation
• 70% - Final exam
 Module Overview

This course introduces World Wide This course is part of the foundation
Web as a fundamental information courses that aim to provide a quick
and application platform for today's coverage of fundamental IT knowledge
information systems. We will look at that is needed for later in your studies.
core aspects of web technologies and
web applications. We will also develop
usable websites..
 Explain different components of World Wide
Web as a platform.

Design and develop websites using fundamental

web languages, technologies, and tools.

Distinguish between server-side and client-side

Course web technologies.
objectives/learning
Analyze user experience, usability and
outcomes accessibility issues related to web sites.

Evaluate various web application development

issues and trends

Conduct independent research on a subject

related to the course material.
Web Technology and Applications
ISM301
Lecture 1
Overview of How the Internet Works
 What is the Internet?

• Internet is defined as an Information super Highway, to access

information over the web. However, It can be defined in many
ways as follows:
 Internet is a world-wide global system of interconnected computer
networks.
 Internet uses the standard Internet Protocol (TCP/IP).
 Every computer in internet is identified by a unique IP address.
 IP Address is a unique set of numbers (such as 110.22.33.114) which
identifies a computer location.
 A special computer DNS (Domain Name Server) is used to give name to
the IP Address so that user can locate a computer by a name.
 For example, a DNS server will resolve a
name http://www.bazeuniversity.edu.ng to a particular IP address to
uniquely identify the computer on which this website is hosted.
 Internet is accessible to every user all over the world.
 Evolution
• The concept of Internet was originated in 1969 and has undergone
several technological & Infrastructural changes as discussed below:
 The origin of Internet devised from the concept of Advanced Research
Project Agency Network (ARPANET).
 ARPANET was developed by United States Department of Defense.
 Basic purpose of ARPANET was to provide communication among the
various bodies of government.
 Initially, there were only four nodes, formally called Hosts.
 In 1972, the ARPANET spread over the globe with 23 nodes located at
different countries and thus became known as Internet.
 By the time, with invention of new technologies such as TCP/IP protocols,
DNS, WWW, browsers, scripting languages etc.,Internet provided a medium
to publish and access information over the web.
 The internet has six application protocols: Electronic mail (E-mail), World
Wide Web (Hypertext Transfer Protocol or HTTP), Gopher, Telnet, File
Transfer Protocol (FTP), Each of these application protocol has special client
software, and many web browsers, such as internet Explorer from Microsoft,
which are capable of reading and displaying data from all the applications.
 How does the WWW work ?
• Web information is stored in documents called Web pages
• Web pages are files stored on computers called Web
servers
• Computers reading the Web pages are called Web clients
• Web clients view the pages with a program called a Web
browser
• Popular browsers are Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox
TCP/IP: the Universal Language of the Internet

• The Internet works because every computer connected to it uses the

same set of rules and procedures (protocols) to control timing and
data format.
• The protocols used by the internet are called Transmission Control
Protocol/Internet Protocol universally abbreviated as TCP/IP.
• These protocols include the specifications that identify individual
computers and that exchange data between computers. They also
include rules for several categories of application programs so
programs that run on different kinds of computers can talk to one
another.
• TCP/IP software looks different on various computers but it always
presents the same appearance to the network.
 Does not matter if the system at the other end of a connection is a
supercomputer or pocket size PC– as long as it recognizes TCP/IP
protocols, it can send and receive data through the internet.
 Addressing Schemes – IP and DNS
Addresses
• Internet activity can be defined as computers
communicating with each other using the
common language of TCP/IP. Examples are ·
 Client system communicating with an Internet server.
 Internet server computer communicating with a client
computer.
 2 server computers communicating with each other.
 2 client computers communicating via one or more
servers.
 Addressing Schemes – IP and DNS
Addresses
• Every computer on the Internet has a four part
numeric address called the Internet protocol
address (IP address) which contains:
– Routing information that identifies its location.
– Each of the four parts is a number between 0 and 255
so an IP address looks like 194.145.128.14
• Most computers on the Internet also have an
address called a domain name system (DNS)
address, an address that uses words rather than
numbers.
 Domains and Subdomains
• DNS addresses have 2 parts
 Host name – name for a computer connected to the Internet
 Domain – generally identifies the type of institution that uses
the address.
This type of domain name is often called a top-level domain.
Most common types of Internet domains,
Major Features of the Internet
• The popularity of the Internet is due more to content than connectivity which has
many uses. Email is an efficient and inexpensive way to send and receive massages
and documents around the world. The WWW is becoming an important
advertising medium and channel for distribution. Databases and online
information archives are often more up to date than any library. The Internet also
has virtual communities made up of people who share interests.

 The World Wide Web

 Web browsers and HTML tags
 HTTP and URLs-URL stands for Uniform Resource Locator. A URL is nothing
more than the address of a given unique resource on the Web. HTTP clients
generally use Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connections to
communicate with servers.
 Telnet – Remote Access to distant computers (called hosts) over a TCP/IP
network (such as the internet). Permits your computer to log onto another
computer and use it as if you were there.
 File Transfer Protocol (FTP) - You can copy files from one computer to another
over the Internet.
 Accessing the Internet
• Direct Connection Programs run on the local computer which uses
TCP/IP protocols to exchange data with another computer through
the Internet.
• An isolated computer connects to the Internet through a serial data
communications port using SLIP (serial line interface protocol) or
PPP (point to point protocol).
• Remote Terminal Connection exchanges data and commands in
ASCII format with a host computer that uses UNIX or similar OS.
TCP/IP application programs and protocols all run on the host.
• Gateway Connection - even if a LAN does not use TCP/IP commands
and protocols it may provide some Internet services. Such networks
use gateways that convert commands and data to TCP/IP format.
 Advantages
• Internet covers almost every aspect of life,
one can think of. Here are some of the
advantages of Internet:
 Disadvantages
• However, Internet has proved to be a powerful
source of information in almost every field, yet
there exists many disadvantages
 Clients and Servers
• In client server computing, the clients requests a resource and the server
provides that resource.
• A server may serve multiple clients at the same time while a client is in
contact with only one server.
• Both the client and server usually communicate via a computer network
but sometimes they may reside in the same system.
• An illustration of the client server system is given as follows:
Characteristics of Client Server Computing
– The client server computing works with a system of request and
response. The client sends a request to the server and the
server responds with the desired information.
– The client and server should follow a common communication
protocol so they can easily interact with each other. All the
communication protocols are available at the application layer.
– A server can only accommodate a limited number of client
requests at a time. So it uses a system based priority to respond
to the requests.
– Denial of Service attacks hinder servers ability to respond to
authentic client requests by inundating it with false requests.
– An example of a client server computing system is a web server.
It returns the web pages to the clients that requested them.
 Clients and Servers
o Web clients: Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer,
Google Chrome, . . .
• See ”Web Statistics” by W3Schools
www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers
stats.asp
o Web servers: Apache, Microsoft IIS, GWS, . .
• See ”Web Server Survey” by Netcraft Ltd.
news.netcraft.com/archives/category/web-
server-survey/
Advantages of Client Server Computing
– All the required data is concentrated in a single place
i.e. the server. So it is easy to protect the data and
provide authorisation and authentication.
– The server need not be located physically close to the
clients. Yet the data can be accessed efficiently.
– It is easy to replace, upgrade or relocate the nodes in
the client server model because all the nodes are
independent and request data only from the server.
– All the nodes i.e clients and server may not be build
on similar platforms yet they can easily facilitate the
transfer of data
Clients and Servers Limitations
• Scalability is hard to achieve
• Presents a single point of failure
• Requires administration
• Cost of setting and maintaining client server
model are quite high
• Unused resources at the network edge
• P2P systems try to address these limitations
 Peer-to-peer (P2P)
• Peer-to-peer (P2P) is a technology that enables two or more peers to collaborate
spontaneously in a network of equal peers by using appropriate information and
communication systems without the necessity for central coordination.
• In peer-to-peer (P2P) networks, each computer acts as both a server and a client.
Examples of P2P software include Skype and BitTorrent.
Characteristics of Peer to Peer Computing
• The different characteristics of peer to peer networks are as
follows:
– Peer to peer networks are usually formed by groups of a dozen or
less computers. These computers all store their data using individual
security but also share data with all the other nodes.
– The nodes in peer to peer networks both use resources and provide
resources. So, if the nodes increase, then the resource sharing
capacity of the peer to peer network increases. This is different than
client server networks where the server gets overwhelmed if the
nodes increase.
– Since nodes in peer to peer networks act as both clients and servers,
it is difficult to provide adequate security for the nodes. This can lead
to denial of service attacks.
– Most modern operating systems such as Windows and Mac OS
contain software to implement peer to peer networks.
 Advantages of Peer to Peer Computing

• Each computer in the peer to peer network manages itself.

So, the network is quite easy to set up and maintain.
• In the client server network, the server handles all the
requests of the clients. This provision is not required in peer
to peer computing and the cost of the server is saved.
• It is easy to scale the peer to peer network and add more
nodes. This only increases the data sharing capacity of the
system.
• None of the nodes in the peer to peer network are
dependent on the others for their functioning.
Disadvantages of Peer to Peer Computing
• It is difficult to backup the data as it is stored
in different computer systems and there is no
central server.
• It is difficult to provide overall security in the
peer to peer network as each system is
independent and contains its own data.
 P2P Application Areas
• Examples of P2P application areas
– Instant Messaging
– File exchange
– Collaboration
– Lookup services
– Mobile ad hoc communication
– Content Distribution
– Middleware
fference between Client Server Computing and Peer to Peer Computing

• The major differences between client server computing

and peer to peer computing are as follows:
– In client server computing, a server is a central node that
services many client nodes. On the other hand, in a peer to
peer system, the nodes collectively use their resources and
communicate with each other.
– In client server computing the server is the one that
communicates with the other nodes. In peer to peer to
computing, all the nodes are equal and share data with each
other directly.
– Client Server computing is believed to be a subcategory of
the peer to peer computing.
Client-Server Versus Peer-to-Peer
Client/Server Model Peer to Peer Model
Assumption Assumption
Workstation is so powerless Workstation is powerful
that it can not do any task. enough to do some jobs
Only User (Operator) can Other workstation and server can
control the workstation remote-control the workstation
 The End
• Questions and Discussions