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Are the Internet and the World Wide Web the same thing? Why or Why not?

The Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW or Web) are not the same thing, though they are related. The Internet encompasses the Web, but it also encompasses other online protocols in addition to the Web. In basic terms, the difference is that the former is a massive system of connected international networks, while the latter is one type of service available within that network.

The Internet began as a U.S. Defense project in 1973. The Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) believed that a redundant, non-centralized, international network of computers could be vital for passing information along in the case of a nuclear disaster or other cataclysmic event. ARPA developed “packet technology” or the ability to send data across the network by breaking it up into discreet data packets, addressed to a unique machine on the network. Packets take various routes through the network, then reassemble themselves at the destination address.

The common language used to perform the task of sending data packets over the Internet is referred to as a protocol. Different services have different languages or protocols. This is another difference: the Internet supports many protocols, while the WWW is just one protocol of the many supported.

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