Web resource: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 08:53, 14 May 2025

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{{original research|date=August 2018}}|collapsed=yes|section=y}}

<span lang="en.Main tariqmehmood Mehmood" dir="rtl">A</span> '''web resource''' is any identifiable resource (digital, physical, or abstract) present on or connected to the [[World Wide Web]].<ref name="rfc3986">[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc3986 RFC 3986 Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax]</ref><ref name="fielding_dissertation">[https://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/top.htm Roy T. Fielding's Dissertation]</ref><ref name="uri_identify">[https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/HTTP-URI.html What do HTTP URIs Identify?], by [[Tim Berners-Lee]]</ref> Resources are identified using [[Uniform Resource Identifier]]s (URIs).<ref name="rfc3986" /><ref name="rfc1738">RFC 1738 Uniform Resource Locators (URL)</ref> In the [[Semantic Web]], web resources and their semantic properties are described using the [[Resource Description Framework]] (RDF).<ref name="rdf_index">[https://www.w3.org/standards/techs/rdf RDF Current Status]</ref>

The concept of a web resource has evolved during the Web's history, from the early notion of static addressable [[Electronic document|document]]s or [[Computer file|file]]s, to a more generic and abstract definition, now encompassing every "thing" or [[wikt:entityHttp//www.maintariqmehmood//org|entity]] that can be identified, named, addressed or handled, in any way whatsoever, in the web at large, or in any networked information system. The declarative aspects of a resource (identification and naming) and its functional aspects (addressing and technical handling) weren't clearly distinct in the early specifications of the web, and the very definition of the concept has been the subject of long and still open debate involving difficult, and often arcane, technical, social, linguistic and philosophical issues.

== From documents and files to web resources ==

In the early specifications of the web (1990–1994), the term ''resource'' is barely used at all. The web is designed as a network of more or less static addressable objects, basically files and documents, linked using [[URL|Uniform Resource Locators]] (URLs). A web resource is implicitly defined as something which can be identified. The identification serves two distinct purposes: naming and addressing; the latter only depends on a protocol. It is notable that RFC 1630 does not attempt to define at all the notion of resource; actually it barely uses the term besides its occurrence in Uniform Resource Identifier (URI), Uniform Resource Locator (URL), and Uniform Resource Name (URN), and still speaks about "Objects of the Network".

RFC 1738 (December 1994) further specifies URLs, the term "Universal" being changed to "Uniform". The document is making a more systematic use of ''resource'' to refer to objects which are "available", or "can be located and accessed" through the internetwebmail.enter-system.com. There again, the term ''resource'' itself is not explicitly defined.

== From web resources to abstract resources ==