Current Web Architecture


Table of Contents

Introduction 

Basic Web Architecture 

Web Architecture Extensibility 

Other Transfer Protocols 

Other Open Standards 


Introduction

This section of the Internet Tool Survey describes the current architecture of the World Wide Web (WWW). The NCSA Glossary is a useful starting point for Web terms. Another is the ILC glossary of Internet Terms.

The following sections describe



Basic Web Architecture

The basic web architecture is two-tiered and characterized by a web client that displays information content and a web server that transfers information to the client. This architecture depends on three key standards: HTML for encoding document content, URLs for naming remote information objects in a global namespace, and HTTP for staging the transfer.

Web Architecture Extensibility

This basic web architecture is fast evolving to serve a wider variety of needs beyond static document access and browsing. The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) extends the architecture to three-tiers by adding a back-end server that provides services to the Web server on behalf of the Web client, permitting dynamic composition of web pages. Helpers/plug-ins and Java/JavaScript provide other interesting Web architecture extensions. 
 

Other Transfer Protocols

The Web also uses other HTTP-related protocols for transferring and representing information, including:

Other Open Standards

The Web also builds on additional open standards: A more complete list of standards can be found at Netscape and the World Wide Web Consortium. A complete list of Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard RFCs can be found here.




This research is sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and managed by the U.S. Army Research Laboratory under contract DAAL01-95-C-0112. The views and conclusions contained in this document are those of the authors and should not be interpreted as necessarily representing the official policies, either expressed or implied of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, U.S. Army Research Laboratory, or the United States Government. 

© Copyright 1996 Object Services and Consulting, Inc. Permission is granted to copy this document provided this copyright statement is retained in all copies. Disclaimer: OBJS does not warrant the accuracy or completeness of the information on this page. 

This page was written by Craig Thompson and Gil Hansen. Send questions and comments about this page to thompson@objs.com or gil@objs.com.

Last updated: 1/3/97 sjf

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