Difficulty: Easy
Correct Answer: World Wide Web
Explanation:
Introduction / Context:
Uniform Resource Locators URLs are familiar to anyone who uses a web browser. They appear in the address bar when you visit a website and specify where a resource such as a web page, image or file is located. URLs are closely associated with the way the World Wide Web works and with how browsers locate content.
Given Data / Assumptions:
Concept / Approach:
The World Wide Web is a system of interlinked hypertext documents accessed using the internet. Each resource on the web is identified by a URL, which specifies the protocol, host name, path and sometimes additional parameters. JavaScript is a programming language used in web pages, SQL is a database language, FTP is a file transfer protocol and SMTP is an email protocol. While URLs can refer to resources accessed by different protocols, the system most directly associated with URLs in everyday usage is the World Wide Web.
Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Recognise that a URL such as https://www.example.com/index.html is commonly called a web address.
Step 2: Web browsers use URLs to request resources from web servers as part of the World Wide Web.
Step 3: The World Wide Web consists of many such resources connected by hyperlinks, and URLs are the identifiers used to locate them.
Step 4: JavaScript runs inside web pages or applications but does not itself define the addressing scheme for locating files across the network.
Step 5: SQL is used for querying and managing databases and is not directly involved in identifying web file locations.
Step 6: FTP and SMTP are specific application layer protocols. They can appear in URLs as ftp:// or mailto: but the question mentions files on the web, which commonly refers to HTTP or HTTPS URLs and the World Wide Web.
Step 7: Therefore, the correct answer is the World Wide Web.
Verification / Alternative check:
Introductory web technology books explain that the World Wide Web is built on three basic technologies: HTML for documents, HTTP for communication and URLs for addressing resources. This trio defines how users navigate from one page to another. URLs are both part of the technical infrastructure and visible to users as web addresses. This confirms that the system using URLs to indicate resource locations on the web is the World Wide Web.
Why Other Options Are Wrong:
JavaScript, while important for interactive web pages, is a programming language and does not itself define web addressing. SQL operates inside database servers and clients. FTP and SMTP are protocols for file transfer and email respectively and are not the overall system of linked documents described in the question. Only the World Wide Web matches the idea of a web of files and pages addressed by URLs.
Common Pitfalls:
Candidates sometimes confuse the internet with the World Wide Web. The internet is the global network infrastructure, while the web is a service running on top of it that uses URLs, HTTP and HTML. Remember that URLs are most closely associated with the web layer, not with the raw network or specific programming or query languages.
Final Answer:
The addressing scheme known as URL is used by the World Wide Web to indicate the location of files and resources.
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