
Web Technologies
Everyday you hear the terms ‘Internet’, ‘Web’, ‘Technology’ and other keywords that describe the virtual world of networked computers communicating in so many ways that even a computer scientist doesn’t understand it all.
The Technology stack that we like to work with is based on open standards and not controls by one enterprise. These are the technologies that professionals all over the world have used to build the internet we know today. There are other proprietary technologies that large enterprises use because of the solutions they offer. But for what we do, we use a traditional stack of server hardware, operating system, database, programming language, and user experience technology. Following is a list of what we like.
Operating System is always a Linux based flavor. This means that it is supported by a group that took the open source operating system linux and made tweaks to make it more operationally friendly. Examples are Fedora, Red Hat, Ubuntu, and Centos. Currently we use Centos OS. More on Operating Systems. We run Centos on a virtual SSD, SSD stands for Solid State Drive and is considered the faster harddisk available today.
On top of the operating system lies the files system and database. A database stores information to be used by the programs written to provide business logic and attribution, as well as data to enhance the user experience. The most popular databases are Oracle, MS Sql Server, MySQL, More on Databases these are all known as relational databases or more correctly DBMS (database management systems)
The file system stores program files like php, javascript, java and configuration files, and web design files in formats like html and css. There are also files that are part of the operating system itself and are used to configure and manage the server.
What the user see through their browser is the rendered page that is a result of the program files constructing a document object that meets the standards of the browser. The browser attempts to display the rendered file from the server to the user through their desktop or device browser. If using an device app, the operating system of the device renders the display from program files on the devices and with files and information from a server, the results often times appear very similar to web pages seen in browser.