On the Origin and Evolution of the Web

The Web is almost 30 years old and it has evolved substantially from the initial proposal of 1989. This seminar covers both aspects of the origin and history of the Web and of its technical evolution. Topics include:

• History of hypermedia
• The Xanadu System
• The On-line System (NLS)
• Hypercard
• Gopher
• The original Web proposal
• W3C
• History and evolution of the Browser
• Browser wars
• Cookies and browser caching
• Client server load sharing
• Client server communication
• Standardization
• Security evolution
• HTML and layout
• Client-side scripting

This seminar is designed as a block event. Students can propose their own related topic (only at the beginning of the course). The language of the seminar is English. The concrete seminar topics will be presented in a preliminary discussion at the beginning of the semester (presumably the first week of lectures) and distributed according to the preference of the seminar participants. During the semester, the student is expected to research the topic, write a report and prepare a presentation. All presentation will take place at the end of the lecture period in a block event. Accordingly, there are no weekly sessions during the semester. Please note that the elaborations are to be submitted before the presentations.