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Sat Dec 27 00:20:23 1997 UTC (26 years, 5 months ago) by frystyk
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  <TITLE>W3C Sample Code Library Activity Statement</TITLE>
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<H1>
  W3C Sample Code Library Activity Statement
</H1>
<DIV class="intro">
  The success of the Web has put very high demands on the efficiency and
  reliability by which people can exchange information.
  <A HREF="../Protocols/">HTTP</A> has been one of the main vehicles behind
  the success and has changed significantly in the last six years to keep up
  with the evolution. W3C is playing an active role in the design and development
  of HTTP and an important part of this work is to test out new ideas and features
  in real applications.
  <UL>
    <LI>
      <A HREF="#History">History</A>
    <LI>
      <A HREF="#Current">Current Status</A>
    <LI>
      <A HREF="#Recent">Recent Accomplishments</A>
  </UL>
  <P>
  @(#) $Id: Activity.html,v 1.15 1997/12/27 00:20:23 frystyk Exp $
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  <HR>
<P>
The purpose of libwww is to provide an environment for experimenting with
extensions and new features - most notably for HTTP but also for many other
parts of the Web. The focus of libwww is client side applications like robots
and browsers. Libwww is part of the <A HREF="../Areas.html">W3C Architecture
area</A> and contains sample code for HTTP clients and for other Internet
protocols such as FTP, Gopher, News, WAIS, Telnet servers. It has a rudimentary
HTML parser which can only do the very basics but please have a look at the
<A HREF="../Amaya/">Amaya Web client</A> for a full-blown HTML browser/editor
application.
<H2>
  History
</H2>
<P>
Libwww has been part of the World Wide Web almost from the beginning. Tim
Berners-Lee designed and implemented the first version back in November 1992
in order to demonstrate the Web model. Many people have picked up the Library
and used it in a variety of contexts. Applications such as Lou Montulli's
Lynx character based client, Mosaic Web browser by Marc Andreesen and Eric
Bena, and the CERN server by Ari Luotonen were all based on later versions
of libwww. Later on, applications like the Arena browser by Dave Raggett
and H&aring;kon W. have been added to the list.
<H2>
  Current Status
</H2>
<P>
Libwww is freely available under W3C copyright for use by anyone. The
distribution package contains a set of example applications spanning from
very simple ones to more advanced ones like a robot, and a text based Web
client.
<P>
With <B>version 5.0</B> of libwww which was released September 10 1996, the
status of libwww has changed from generic Web toolkit for writing applications
to playground for experimenting with HTTP. The reason for this is that the
need for a generic Web API written in basic C has changed and we are now
more focused on how to improve HTTP than to provide a generic Web API.
<P>
<B>Release 5.1</B> which was used in the
<A HREF="../Protocols/HTTP/Performance/Pipeline.html">HTTP performance work</A>
is expected to be the last release of Libwww from W3C. We are actively looking
for a new home for libwww, which can take care of maintenance, development,
and providing a forum for libwww discussions. Interested parties should
<A HREF="../People/Frystyk/">contact Henrik</A> for details.
<H2>
  <A NAME="Recent">Recent Accomplishments</A>
</H2>
<DL>
  <DT>
    <A HREF="User/ReleaseNotes.html">Version 5.1</A> (version 5.1d released December
    1997)
  <DD>
    The focus for version 5.1 was to implement a high-performance HTTP/1.1 client
    used as a testbed for the
    "<A HREF="../Protocols/HTTP/Performance/Pipeline.html">Network Performance
    Effects of HTTP/1.1, CSS1, and PNG</A>" paper. This release which was used
    in the <A HREF="../Protocols/HTTP/Performance/Pipeline.html">HTTP performance
    work</A> is expected to be the last release of Libwww.
</DL>
<P>
  <HR>
<ADDRESS>
  <A href="../"><IMG SRC="../Icons/WWW/w3c_home" ALT="W3C" BORDER="0"></A><BR>
  <A HREF="../People/Frystyk/">Henrik Frystyk Nielsen</A>,<BR>
  @(#) $Id: Activity.html,v 1.15 1997/12/27 00:20:23 frystyk Exp $
</ADDRESS>
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