IB Computer Science –
Option C: Web Science
2026 | Study Guide,
Practice Questions,
Answers, Rationales &
Exam Review | Complete
Ethics Study Guide
Updated 2026 Questions and Answers
100% Verified Exam Prep and Comprehensive
Rationales
Included
,Distinguish between the Internet and the World Wide Web Internet is a interconnected set of networks and computers that permits the transfer
of data governed by protocols like TCP/IP.
World Wide Web is a set of hypertext-linked resources identified as URIs that are
transferred between a client and a server via the Internet.
Web 1.0 "read-only web". Static documents which are formatted as HTML files. Little user
interaction or content contribution.
Web 2.0 "read-write web". More dynamic, enabled user interaction. Appearance of blogging
platforms like Blogger. New concepts like blogs, social networks or video-streaming
platforms. Improved design, JavaScript and dynamic content.
Web 3.0 "read-write-execute" Internet of Things. Smarter searches and the presentation of
relevant data fitting into context. User input becoming more meaningful.
HTTP hypertext transfer protocol; the protocol used to transfer and exchange hypermedia.
part of IP protocols. user agent requests some resource from a server and the
server responds with the required information. done through two php codes. GET
and POST.
HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. Encrypts HTTP traffic with SSL or TLS.
ensures authentication of website using digital certificates and intergreity and
confidentiality through encryption of communication.
HTML Hypertext Markup Language; semantic markup language. standard language for
web documents, uses elements enclosed by tags to markup a document.
URL Uniform Resource Locator; a location or address identifying where documents can
be found on the Internet; a Web address. primarly used for http and other protocols
like ftp. follows a specific syntax.
XML Extensible Markup Language, a way of writing data in a tree-structured form by
enclosing it in tags. human readable. used for representation of arbitrary data
structures.
XLST Extensible stylesheet language. the CSS of XML. styling language for XML. data
presentation. data transformation by parsing a source tree of nodes out and
transform it into something different.
JavaScript an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create
interactive effects within web browsers.
CSS Cascading Style Sheets contain hierarchical information about how the content of a
web page will be rendered in a browser.
, URI Uniform Resource Identifier - specifies how to access a resource on the Internet.
more general than a URL
Describe the purpose of a URL Defines a pathway to a specific resource. It allows to link different resources, which
creates the basis for navigating the WWW.
Describe how a domain name server functions A domain name server (DNS) translates the URL from a clients request (example
"http://www.facebook.com") and resolves a physical network address (IP) from it
(example: "204.74.112.1").
IP Internet Protocol. The main delivery system for information over the Internet. part of
TCP/IP protocol suite. defines the format of a packet. IPv4 uses 32-bit address.
IPv6 uses 128-bit address.
TCP Transmission Control Protocol - provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked
delivery of a stream of packets on the internet. TCP is tightly linked with IP and
usually seen as TCP/IP in writing. receives data from an application and divides it
up ready for IP.
Provides error-checking which can lead to the re-sending of packets.
FTP File Transfer Protocol uses a TCP-based network to pass files from host to host.
files can also be manipulated/modified remotely. control information (log-ins) are
sent separately from the main file differing FTP from HTTP.
<head> not visible on a page, but contains important information about it in form of
metadata
<title> inside head, displayed in tab of the web page.
<meta> tags various type of meta tags, gives search engines information about the page, but are
also used for other purposes, such as to specify the charset used.
<body> The main part of the page document. This is where all the visible content goes in.
navigation bar a set of hyperlinks that give users a way to display the different pages in a website
hyperlinks "Hot spots" or "jumps" to locate another file or page; represented by a graphic or
colored and underlined text.
Option C: Web Science
2026 | Study Guide,
Practice Questions,
Answers, Rationales &
Exam Review | Complete
Ethics Study Guide
Updated 2026 Questions and Answers
100% Verified Exam Prep and Comprehensive
Rationales
Included
,Distinguish between the Internet and the World Wide Web Internet is a interconnected set of networks and computers that permits the transfer
of data governed by protocols like TCP/IP.
World Wide Web is a set of hypertext-linked resources identified as URIs that are
transferred between a client and a server via the Internet.
Web 1.0 "read-only web". Static documents which are formatted as HTML files. Little user
interaction or content contribution.
Web 2.0 "read-write web". More dynamic, enabled user interaction. Appearance of blogging
platforms like Blogger. New concepts like blogs, social networks or video-streaming
platforms. Improved design, JavaScript and dynamic content.
Web 3.0 "read-write-execute" Internet of Things. Smarter searches and the presentation of
relevant data fitting into context. User input becoming more meaningful.
HTTP hypertext transfer protocol; the protocol used to transfer and exchange hypermedia.
part of IP protocols. user agent requests some resource from a server and the
server responds with the required information. done through two php codes. GET
and POST.
HTTPS Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure. Encrypts HTTP traffic with SSL or TLS.
ensures authentication of website using digital certificates and intergreity and
confidentiality through encryption of communication.
HTML Hypertext Markup Language; semantic markup language. standard language for
web documents, uses elements enclosed by tags to markup a document.
URL Uniform Resource Locator; a location or address identifying where documents can
be found on the Internet; a Web address. primarly used for http and other protocols
like ftp. follows a specific syntax.
XML Extensible Markup Language, a way of writing data in a tree-structured form by
enclosing it in tags. human readable. used for representation of arbitrary data
structures.
XLST Extensible stylesheet language. the CSS of XML. styling language for XML. data
presentation. data transformation by parsing a source tree of nodes out and
transform it into something different.
JavaScript an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create
interactive effects within web browsers.
CSS Cascading Style Sheets contain hierarchical information about how the content of a
web page will be rendered in a browser.
, URI Uniform Resource Identifier - specifies how to access a resource on the Internet.
more general than a URL
Describe the purpose of a URL Defines a pathway to a specific resource. It allows to link different resources, which
creates the basis for navigating the WWW.
Describe how a domain name server functions A domain name server (DNS) translates the URL from a clients request (example
"http://www.facebook.com") and resolves a physical network address (IP) from it
(example: "204.74.112.1").
IP Internet Protocol. The main delivery system for information over the Internet. part of
TCP/IP protocol suite. defines the format of a packet. IPv4 uses 32-bit address.
IPv6 uses 128-bit address.
TCP Transmission Control Protocol - provides reliable, ordered, and error-checked
delivery of a stream of packets on the internet. TCP is tightly linked with IP and
usually seen as TCP/IP in writing. receives data from an application and divides it
up ready for IP.
Provides error-checking which can lead to the re-sending of packets.
FTP File Transfer Protocol uses a TCP-based network to pass files from host to host.
files can also be manipulated/modified remotely. control information (log-ins) are
sent separately from the main file differing FTP from HTTP.
<head> not visible on a page, but contains important information about it in form of
metadata
<title> inside head, displayed in tab of the web page.
<meta> tags various type of meta tags, gives search engines information about the page, but are
also used for other purposes, such as to specify the charset used.
<body> The main part of the page document. This is where all the visible content goes in.
navigation bar a set of hyperlinks that give users a way to display the different pages in a website
hyperlinks "Hot spots" or "jumps" to locate another file or page; represented by a graphic or
colored and underlined text.
