The internet and web development have a history of half a century. During this short period, many interesting and entertaining facts shaped history. We at CodeRiders gathered information about web development history you were not taught at school. So, here we go!
The 1960s: Slow Beginning
In the 1960s computer scientists started working on a project which we would one day call the Internet. It all started as a US Department of Defense project together with Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, or ARPANET.
In 1965 MIT lab created computers that could communicate with each other. Four years later the first remote message was sent from one state to another, however, the connection crashed halfway.
During this decade, programming languages like COBOL and BASIC were used.
The 1970s: Birth of the Internet
During this decade web development sped up. This is the time the first email was sent over a closed network, and this is the period we can announce “the Internet” as born. They launched Internet service providers and designed Internet protocols. It was 1976 when Queen Elizabeth II sent her first email.
New programming languages like Pascal and C appeared.
The 1980s: Domain Names
The 1980s brought domain name suffixes such as .com, .edu, and so forth. The world's first and oldest registered .com domain name on the Internet is Symbolics.com in 1985. The site is still accessible today as a part of Internet history. Academic centers in the US, students, and researchers had access to 56,000 bits dial-up speed available Internet.
More and more programming languages were created like Ada, Smalltalk, C++, Objective-C, and Perl, bringing object-oriented programming upfront.
The 1990s: Birth of Open-Source Systems
Thanks to Tim Berners-Lee, we now have Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), which is, basically, the backbone of every web page ever written. HTML creation was a renaissance for the Internet. By 1993 there were already 2 million computers connected to the Internet. By 1995, major web players like Yahoo, Amazon, Craigslist, and eBay were launched. During this decade, the concept of SEO was first released when Google started its search engine business in 1998.
Free and open-source software operating system Linux appeared, together with programming languages like Haskell, Python, Java, Ruby, and JavaScript.
The 2000s: Rise of Internet Startups
This is the period when thousands of Internet startups appeared on the web. This decade brought us such popular networks as Myspace, Skype, and WordPress in 2003, Facebook and Firefox browser in 2004, YouTube in 2005, Twitter in 2006, etc.
Adobe Flash started providing embedded interactive elements and cascading style sheets (CSS) making it easier to create in HTML. Developers started using the C# programming language.
The rise of commodity computers led to the development of the Cloud. Now applications can be updated and accessed in real-time instead of being downloaded to the user's computer.
2010-2015: Web and Mobile Apps
The rise of mobile is significant with the development of smartphones and tablets. Because the trend went with “smartphone for everyone”, the need for mobile applications rose as well. Instagram and Pinterest appeared to join the group of popular social media. Meanwhile Facebook, Twitter, and later on Instagram as well, reached millions of user base. Social media started playing a huge role in social life, even in organizing protests or conflicts.
This is the period when Edward Snowden rocked the world in 2013 with the discovery of US citizens being wiretapped without their knowledge.
Online banking became so popular that half of the US citizens were holding online bank accounts.
2016 and 2020: Strategic Technology Trends
A new term appeared in the online community – the Internet of Things (IoT). A number of household devices began appearing with built-in Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Another new term that provides wealth opportunities to millions is a cryptocurrency and various methods of doing business by using it. The rise of virtual reality and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is still going on.
Al has become one of the trending and widely used solutions during the past 4 years. Although science fiction oftentimes negatively outlines Artificial intelligence and Robotics, many popular giants and tech firms like Apple, Google, and Tesla show the life-changing transformations in social behavior through AI, Robotics as well as machine learning (ML) technology.
For example, tech giants like Microsoft and Uber use Knightscope K5 Robots as guarantors for security. The Knightscope K5 is an outdoor machine that is running 24/7 by itself including recharging itself without any human interference.
AI, ML, and Robotics are everywhere from gaming to education, hospitality to healthcare. The quality of chatbots was 2020’s next web development trend for engagement and conversion rates. No matter selling medicines, electronic toys, or even software development services, a chatbot became a must-have for every website.
These solutions together with the whole Information technology industry played a pivotal role in almost every branch of the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic and business crisis. Many industries welcomed advanced software solutions to manage remote employees and jobs. These industries include hospital and healthcare, media and telecommunication, education management, financial services, e-commerce.
Furthermore, after the pandemic when employees were back to the offices they already felt the before and after effect of the COVID-19. The industrial site employees met sensors and RFID tags are used to determine whether the employees are washing their hands regularly. Computer vision determines if employees comply with mask protocol and speakers warn people about these protocol violations. The capture and usage of such behavioral data are called the internet of behavior (IoB).
IoB especially became popular during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2019-2020 and was adapted as an effective work management strategy for a number of companies ever since. Meanwhile, the distributed cloud has become the future of the cloud. The distributed cloud computing allows the distribution of cloud computing services to different physical locations, while the updates, operation, governance, and other likewise services are organized by the originated public cloud provider.
