For most people, the Web is the Internet. Since it gained popularity in the 1990s, the World Wide Web has become a part of the everyday life of nearly every person on this planet. Websites provide us with information; social media allow us to communicate with other people; and online retail allows us to shop all over the world. The humble Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) makes all these killer features of the Internet possible.

Modern web browsers are capable of much more than just displaying hypertext. Thanks to the inclusion of the JavaScript runtime, the web has become the most widespread computing platform available. Programmers who want to reach the broadest number of users don't have to dedicate resources to creating a version of their application for every operating system. Instead they can create a web application, which can run on every device with a capable browser.

This arrangement is also a boon for system administrators, who can choose to implement many services...