IGCSE Computer Science Paper 1 Definitions Worksheet: 5.1 The Internet and the World Wide Web (Modules 477–489)
Name:
Date:
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Key terms
Write what each term means, in your own words.
1
navigation tools
2
cookie
3
browser function
4
domain name
5
DNS
6
DNS lookup
7
web server
8
HTTP request
9
URL -> DNS -> IP -> server -> HTML -> render
10
session cookie
Answer Key
IGCSE Computer Science Paper 1 · Modules 477–489 · Student wording will vary for definitions
1navigation tools — Browser buttons such as back, forward, refresh and home that let the user move between web pages, reload the current page and return to a starting page.
2cookie — A small file a website sends to your browser. The browser stores it on your device and sends it back to that website on later visits. Browser settings can block or delete it.
3browser function — A browser tool that meets a user need: bookmarks return to a favourite site, tabs open many pages at once, history finds an old page, back goes one page.
4domain name — An easy-to-remember name, like example.com, that stands in for a numeric IP address. It must be converted into the IP address before the computer can find the web server.
5DNS — Domain name server: stores a list of domain names with their matching IP addresses. Give it a domain name and it returns the IP address. Many DNS servers exist across the internet.
6DNS lookup — The browser sends a domain name to a DNS server, which searches for it and returns the matching IP address. If it has no match, it passes the request to another DNS server.
7web server — A computer that stores website files and sends them to a browser (the client) over the internet using HTTP when the browser asks for a page. It is always switched on and connected.
8HTTP request — A message the browser sends to the web server's IP address asking for a page; the server replies with the page's HTML, or an error such as 404 if it does not exist.
9URL -> DNS -> IP -> server -> HTML -> render — The ordered steps after you enter a URL: the browser asks DNS for the IP address, sends a request to the web server, gets HTML back, then renders the page.
10session cookie — A cookie stored temporarily in memory while you browse. It has no expiry date, lasts only for one visit and is deleted when the browser is closed.