URLs: Universal Resource Locators
Universal Resource Locators are the primary building block of the
Internet. Often refered to as a url or simply a link, URL's are the
Internet address of a document or resource.
The url is composed of two required elements...
- the Internet service/protocol that is to be used to access this
resource, and
- the Internet address of the computer on which the resource is found
and may include a 'filepath' which specifies where the resoure
can be found.
Internet Services/Protocols
Common Internet services that are used in urls include:
- HTTP - Hypertext Transfer Protocol (the most common protocol
used on the World Wide Web)
- FTP - File Transfer Protocol
- TELNET - A protocol that allows you to login and use a remote computer.
Internet Address
The internet address can take the form of...
www.chebucto.ns.ca
or it can be a numbered address such as:
205.
In addition, the address can include a 'port' specification such as ":80".
Internet addresses are very specific and any errors including failure to
include a port if appropriate can produce an error.
Examples:
A url usually takes the form...
protocol ://machine.name [:port]/directory /
document.name
Example 1
http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/Help/Html/Urls.shtml
...is the url for this document.
Example 2
telnet://chebucto.ns.ca
...is the telnet url for Chebucto Community Net
Example 3
ftp://ftp.microsoft.com
...is the url for a busy ftp site
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