What is the web, really? How is the web made? How do we design and build web-based applications?

What is the web? How is the web made? This topic delves into core components of the world-wide-web. It is likely you use the web every day. Like everything in computer science, we want you to understand the depth of this topic and not just the surface of this topic. This topic is broken into different parts:

Creating the web
Big question: what ACTUALLY HAPPENS when you type a URL in your web browser and push enter?

Searching the web
Big question: how can a search engine find EXACTLY what you are looking for SO QUICKLY when there are millions of different web pages?
Big question: how can a search engine decide what is the BEST RESULT for your search query?

Distributed approaches to the web
Big question: what is the CLOUD and how do different devices understand each other?

The evolving web
Big question: how has the web CHANGED US individually and as a society?

Analyzing the web
Big question: what does the web LOOK LIKE?

Semantic web
Big question: who decides WHAT MEANS WHAT?

You should be able to read and understand the output of the developers console, including:

1. elements
2. console
3. network
4. memory
5. application
6. security

You should also understand the DOM enough to see how javascript interacts with the DOM.

Distinguish between the internet and World Wide Web (web).
Describe how the web is constantly evolving.
Identify the characteristics of the following: hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) hypertext transfer protocol secure (HTTPS) hypertext mark-up language (HTML) uniform resource locator (URL) extensible mark-up language (XML) extensible stylesheet language transformations (XSLT) JavaScript. cascading style sheet (CSS).
Identify the characteristics of a uniform resource identifier (URI) URL.
Describe the purpose of a URL.
Describe how a domain name server functions.
Identify the characteristics of the internet protocol (IP) transmission control protocol (TCP) file transfer protocol (FTP).
Outline the different components of a web page.
Explain the importance of protocols and standards on the web.
Describe the different types of web page.
Explain the differences between a static web page and a dynamic web page.
Explain the functions of a browser.
Evaluate the use of client-side scripting and server-side scripting in web pages.
Describe how web pages can be connected to underlying data sources.
Describe the function of the common gateway interface (CGI).
Evaluate the structure of different types of web pages.
Define the term search engine.
Distinguish between the surface web and the deep web.
Outline the principles of searching algorithms used by search engines.
Describe how a web crawler functions.
Discuss the relationship between data in a meta-tag and how it is accessed by a web crawler.
Discuss the use of parallel web crawling.
Outline the purpose of web-indexing in search engines.
Suggest how web developers can create pages that appear more prominently in search engine results.
Describe the different metrics used by search engines.
Explain why the effectiveness of a search engine is determined by the assumptions made when developing it.
Discuss the use of white hat and black hat search engine optimization.
Outline future challenges to search engines as the web continues to grow.
Define the terms: mobile computing, ubiquitous computing, peer-2-peer network, grid computing.
Compare the major features of: mobile computing ubiquitous computing peer-2-peer network grid computing.
Distinguish between interoperability and open standards.
Describe the range of hardware used by distributed networks.
Explain why distributed systems may act as a catalyst to a greater decentralization of the web.
Distinguish between lossless and lossy compression.
Evaluate the use of decompression software in the transfer of information.
Discuss how the web has supported new methods of online interaction such as social networking.
Describe how cloud computing is different from a client-server architecture.
Discuss the effects of the use of cloud computing for specified organizations.
Discuss the management of issues such as copyright and intellectual property on the web.
Describe the interrelationship between privacy, identification and authentication.
Describe the role of network architecture, protocols and standards in the future development of the web.
Explain why the web may be creating unregulated monopolies.
Discuss the effects of a decentralized and democratic web.
Describe how the web can be represented as a directed graph.
Outline the difference between the web graph and sub-graphs.
Describe the main features of the web graph such as bowtie structure, strongly connected core (SCC), diameter.
Explain the role of graph theory in determining the connectivity of the web.
Explain that search engines and web crawling use the web graph to access information.
Discuss whether power laws are appropriate to predict the development of the web.
Define the term semantic web.
Distinguish between the text-web and the multimedia-web.
Describe the aims of the semantic web.
Distinguish between an ontology and folksonomy.
Describe how folksonomies and emergent social structures are changing the web.
Explain why there needs to be a balance between expressivity and usability on the semantic web.
Evaluate methods of searching for information on the web.
Distinguish between ambient intelligence and collective intelligence.
Discuss how ambient intelligence can be used to support people.
Explain how collective intelligence can be applied to complex issues.