Lecture 2: History of Web & Internet

BMC201 - Web Technology

Mr. Prashant Kumar Nag

2026-01-27

Lecture 2

History of Web & Internet

Week 1 | Unit I: Web Page Designing
BMC201 - Web Technology
Mr. Prashant Kumar Nag, Assistant Professor

Learning Objectives

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• Understand the evolution of the internet and web
• Learn about key internet protocols and technologies
• Explore how the web works behind the scenes

Start with the importance of understanding the history to appreciate the current state of web technology.

History of the Internet

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1969: ARPANET - First packet-switching network

1983: TCP/IP protocol standardized

1989: Tim Berners-Lee proposes World Wide Web

1991: First web page goes live

1993: Mosaic browser released - made web accessible

Explain that ARPANET was funded by DARPA and was designed to survive a nuclear attack by not having a central point of failure.

Evolution of the Web

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Web 1.0 (1991-2004)

• Static HTML pages
• Read-only content
• Limited user interaction
• Server-side focused

Web 2.0 (2004-present)

• Dynamic content
• User-generated content
• Social media & collaboration
• Rich interactive experiences

Web 1.0 was all about publishing information. Web 2.0 introduced social features and the ability for users to interact and share.

Key Internet Protocols

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HTTP/HTTPS: HyperText Transfer Protocol (secure)

TCP/IP: Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol

DNS: Domain Name System (translates domain names to IP addresses)

FTP: File Transfer Protocol

SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol

How HTTP Works

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HTTP Request

• Method: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE
• URL of resource
• Headers with metadata
• Optional body with data

HTTP Response

• Status code: 200, 404, 500, etc.
• Headers with info
• Body with content
• Cache directives

Both encrypted with HTTPS for security

How the Web Works

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1. User types URL in browser
2. DNS resolves domain name to IP address
3. Browser sends HTTP request to server
4. Server processes request and database queries
5. Server sends HTTP response (HTML, CSS, JS)
6. Browser renders the page on-screen
7. Browser loads additional resources (images, scripts)

This is the fundamental workflow. Every interaction on the web follows this basic pattern.

Client-Server Architecture

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Client (Browser)

• Sends HTTP requests
• Renders HTML/CSS
• Executes JavaScript
• Stores cookies & cache

Server

• Listens for requests
• Processes business logic
• Queries databases
• Sends responses

Domain Name System (DNS)

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User enters: www.example.com
        ↓
Browser queries DNS resolver
        ↓
Resolver asks Root nameserver
        ↓
Root responds with TLD nameserver
        ↓
Resolver queries TLD nameserver
        ↓
TLD responds with Authoritative nameserver
        ↓
Resolver gets IP address
        ↓
Browser connects to 93.184.216.34

This usually takes milliseconds!

Web Technologies Timeline

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1991: HTML - Created by Tim Berners-Lee

1996: CSS - Added styling capabilities

1995: JavaScript - Made web interactive

1999: PHP 3 - Server-side scripting

2006: jQuery - Simplified JavaScript

2010: AngularJS - Web applications framework

2013: React - Component-based UI

2014: Vue.js - Progressive framework

Internet Growth Milestones

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2000s

• E-commerce boom
• Cloud computing
• Mobile web

2010s

• Smartphones dominant
• Real-time apps
• Machine learning

2020s

• AI integration
• Web3/Blockchain
• Edge computing

Web is Built on Open Standards

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W3C (World Wide Web Consortium)

Standards and guidelines for web technologies

IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force)

Internet protocols like HTTP, TCP/IP

WHATWG (Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group)

Living standards for HTML

✓ This openness enabled global web growth

Resources

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• Internet Society - History
• MDN: How the Web Works
• W3C History of the Web
• Course content: Week 1

Questions?

Next: Lecture 3 - HTML Basics & Structure