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Software Dictionary

Learning path · Beginner

How the web works

What happens between typing an address and seeing a page.

Follow a request from your keyboard to a server and back: names and addresses, the protocols that carry the page, and the tricks that make it fast.

23 pages3 chaptersabout 45 min of reading

  • Web Development
  • DevOps & Cloud
  • Networking
  • Security
  • Backend & APIs

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Chapter 1Addresses and names

  1. 1URLWeb Development, p. 52A URL is the address of a resource on the web, made of parts such as a scheme, a host, a path and a query string that tell a browser where and how to fetch it.
  2. 2Domain NameWeb Development, p. 14A domain name is the human-readable address of a website, such as example.com, which the DNS system translates into the IP address of the server that hosts it.
  3. 3DNSDevOps & Cloud, p. 16DNS is the internet's naming system that translates human-readable domain names like example.com into the numeric IP addresses computers use to connect.
  4. 4DNS RecordNetworking, p. 7A DNS record is an entry in a domain's DNS zone that maps a name to information, such as an IP address (A, AAAA), another name (CNAME) or mail servers (MX).
  5. 5IP AddressNetworking, p. 10An IP address is a numeric label assigned to each device on a network so that data can be routed to it, much like a postal address for a house.
  6. 6PortNetworking, p. 22A port is a number from 0 to 65535 that identifies a specific program or service on a device, so traffic reaching an IP address gets to the right application.
  7. 7TCPNetworking, p. 30TCP is a core internet protocol that delivers data between two programs reliably and in order, by opening a connection and resending anything that gets lost.
  8. 8TCP HandshakeNetworking, p. 31The TCP handshake is the SYN, SYN-ACK, ACK exchange a client and server use to open a connection and agree on starting sequence numbers before sending data.
  9. 9HTTPWeb Development, p. 19HTTP is the protocol that browsers, apps, and servers use to exchange web pages and data through a simple cycle of requests and responses.
  10. 10HTTP/2Networking, p. 9HTTP/2 is the second major version of HTTP, sending many requests and responses at once over one connection in a compact binary format so pages load faster.
  11. 11HTTPSSecurity, p. 17HTTPS is the secure version of HTTP that encrypts traffic between a browser and a website with TLS, protecting data from eavesdropping and tampering.

Chapter 2The page itself

  1. 12Web BrowserWeb Development, p. 57A web browser is an application that fetches web pages from servers and turns their HTML, CSS, and JavaScript into the interactive pages you see on screen.
  2. 13HTMLWeb Development, p. 18HTML is the markup language that defines the structure and content of web pages, such as headings, paragraphs, links, images, and forms.
  3. 14CSSWeb Development, p. 10CSS is the style sheet language that controls how HTML content looks on screen, including colors, fonts, spacing, layout, and animations.
  4. 15JavaScriptWeb Development, p. 24JavaScript is the programming language that runs in web browsers to make pages interactive, and it also runs on servers through runtimes like Node.js.
  5. 16DOMWeb Development, p. 13The DOM is the browser's in-memory tree of objects representing a web page, which JavaScript can read and change to update what the user sees.

Chapter 3Getting it there fast

  1. 17LatencyNetworking, p. 14Latency is the delay between sending a request and the start of a response, usually measured in milliseconds, and it shapes how responsive an app feels.
  2. 18BandwidthNetworking, p. 2Bandwidth is the maximum amount of data a network connection can carry per second, usually measured in megabits or gigabits per second (Mbps or Gbps).
  3. 19ThroughputNetworking, p. 32Throughput is the amount of data or work a system actually handles per unit of time, like megabits per second on a network or requests per second on a server.
  4. 20CacheBackend & APIs, p. 8A cache is a fast, temporary storage layer that keeps copies of frequently used data so later requests can be served quickly without repeating slow work.
  5. 21HTTP CachingBackend & APIs, p. 22HTTP caching is the reuse of stored HTTP responses by browsers, CDNs and proxies, controlled by headers like Cache-Control and ETag, to avoid repeat downloads.
  6. 22CDNDevOps & Cloud, p. 7A CDN is a network of servers spread around the world that stores copies of website content and delivers it to each user from the nearest location.
  7. 23Core Web VitalsWeb Development, p. 7Core Web Vitals are three metrics that measure a page's real-user experience: loading speed (LCP), responsiveness (INP), and visual stability (CLS).

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