Overview of the Web and Its Technologies

A comprehensive set of 50 flashcards covering vocabulary related to web technologies, history, algorithms, and key concepts.

Internet

The global network of computers.

Web

A hypertext system built on top of the Internet.

Hypertext

Text that contains links to other texts, forming a network of directed connections.

URL

Uniform Resource Locator; the address that identifies a resource on the web.

HTML

HyperText Markup Language; the foundational language for structuring web documents.

Markdown

A lightweight markup language ideal for beginners and rapid content creation.

PageRank

A probability distribution used to rank web pages based on link structure.

Mobile Web

The web accessed via mobile devices, making it available at any time.

E-commerce

Commercial transactions conducted electronically on the web.

Social Networking Sites

Platforms where users can create profiles and connect with others.

Damping Factor

A value in the PageRank algorithm that accounts for users jumping to random pages.

Ranking

The process of determining the importance or relevance of web pages.

Link Analysis

Examining the structure of links between pages to determine their importance.

Graph Theory

Mathematical study of graphs consisting of nodes and edges.

Directly Linked Nodes

Pages that are connected by hyperlinks in a web graph.

Inbound Links

Links from other pages pointing to a specific page.

Outbound Links

Links from a specific page to other pages.

Network Structure

The arrangement of nodes (pages) and edges (links) in a web graph.

Recursive Algorithm

An algorithm that calls itself, often used to compute PageRank.

Betweenness Centrality

A measure of how often a node appears on the shortest paths between pairs of nodes.

Shortest Path

The minimal-length route between two nodes in a graph.

Node

A point in a graph, representing a page in the web context.

Edge

A link connecting two nodes in a graph.

Algorithm Complexity

The computational resources required by an algorithm as a function of input size.

Normalization

Adjusting values measured on different scales to a common scale.

Seed Page

The initial page used to start the PageRank calculations.

Graph Convergence

When the ranks of pages no longer change significantly with further iterations.

Recursive Importance Propagation

The process whereby the importance of a page is influenced by the importance of links to it.

Content Semantics

The meaningful interpretation of the content on pages.

Ubiquitous Access

Constant and widespread availability of web access through mobile devices.

Manual Ranking

The process of ranking web pages by human judgement.

Query Strings

Parameters in URLs that convey extra information to servers.

Hyperlink

A link that connects one web page to another, acting as a vote for its importance.

Directed Graph

A graph where edges have a direction, indicating a one-way relationship.

Significance of Inbound Links

Higher weight from links coming from pages with greater importance.

Commercial Potential

The ability of the web to conduct business transactions.

Web Growth Rate

The rate at which the number of web pages increases over time.

Vote Value

The importance given to a page based on the quality and quantity of links.

Network Connectivity

The ability of nodes in a network to interconnect and communicate.

Graph Size

The total number of nodes and edges in a web graph.

Core Formula of PageRank

Mathematical representation used to calculate the PageRank of a page.

Link-based Ranking Algorithm

Ranking methods that rely on the structure of links between pages.

Web Milestones

Key events in the development of the web over time.

Structure of the Web

The overall organization of how pages and links are connected.

Query Satisfaction

How well a page meets the needs of a user's search query.