Many people use the terms Internet and World Wide Web (aka the Web) interchangeably, but in fact the two terms are not synonymous. The Internet and the Web are two separate but related things.
The Internet is a massive network of networks, a networking infra-structure. It connects millions of computers together globally, forming a network in which any computer can communicate with any other com-puter as long as they are both connected to the Internet. Information travels over the Internet via a variety of languages known as protocols.
The World Wide Web, or simply Web, is a way of accessing information over the medium of the Internet. It is an information-sharing model that is built on top of the Internet. The Web uses the HTTP protocol, only one of the languages spoken over the Internet, to transmit data. Web services, which use HTTP to allow applications to communicate in order to exchange business logic, use the the Web to share information. The Web also utilizes browsers, such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, to access Web documents called Web pages that are linked to each other via hyperlinks. Web documents also contain graphics, sounds, text and video.
The Web is just one of the ways that information can be disseminated over the Internet. The Internet, not the Web, is also used for email. So the Web is just a portion of the Internet, albeit a large portion, but the two terms are not synonymous and should not be confused.
Of course, you'd know all this already if you had got to Vinnies' op-shop in Ulladulla before me and, for a mere $2, picked up "Weaving the Web - The Original Design and Ultimate Destiny of the WORLD WIDE WEB by Its Inventor", written by the man himself because, unlike so many of the inventions that have moved the world, this almost Gutenbergian one was the work of one man, Tim Berners-Lee. Move over, Gutenberg!
