The Internet is a global network of computers, it has become a necessity in the daily life of people. The internet enables computers to send one another digital data in the form of information, text, pictures, etc. There are no boundaries of the internet, it enables computers to connect networks of computers through miles of distance.
Nowadays there are several uses of the internet and it is not confined to the use of computers but it is also accessible in mobile phones. For example, if someone wants to search the meaning of a certain word they can easily access the internet for the meaning of the word.
The internet was invented by Robert E. Khan and Vint Cerf, An internet officially came into use in 1983. Several improvisations did make internet connection faster and more efficient in every sphere of the digital world. In today’s world, the internet is the basis of the digital world and further, it led to several inventions in the field of Technology.
There are several terms related to the internet which are often used but people do not know their exact meaning, for example, website, search engine, Browser, etc.
Search Engine vs Browser
The main difference between a search engine and a browser is that the search engine allows the user to search the internet after having access on the other hand browser is itself the access to the internet.
Comparison Table Between Search Engine and Browser
| Parameters of Comparison | Search engine | Browser |
| Definition | It is a software system which enables users to surf the internet. | It is a software application used to access the internet |
| Accessibility | Accessible through browser | Usually available on all devices. |
| Requirement of database | Requires database | Does not require a database |
| Working | Gather information from URLs and maintain it. | Display webpage of the current URL. |
| Examples | Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc. | Internet explorer, google chrome, opera, etc. |
What is a Search engine?
A search engine is a software system which enables the user to surf the net, which means to search the world wide web in a more systematic way for particular information which the user wants to have.
A search engine is a website through which user can search things of their choice, and this is done when the user enters the information they want and press search button, after doing this the search engine looks through its index to show relevant Websites in the form of a list, and the user can further choose sites from that list.
Search engines act as filters for a plethora of information, they allow users to quickly get the desired answers to their questions or queries in an easy manner. the information most of the time is genuine but some exceptions are always there.
There are numerous search engines available across the world, for example, Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, Yippy, etc., among all of them Google is the top-rated search engine, it is often seen as a synonym for search engine, it covers 90% of the worldwide market.
The working of the search engine includes a listing of URLs which then go to the scheduler. the scheduler then decides when to crawl each URL. Crawled pages then go to a parser where vital information is extracted or indexed. These parsed links go to the scheduler which prioritises their crawling.
What is a Browser?
Browser is a software application For assessing the internet or to search for information on the World Wide Web. It is readily available on PCs, laptops, mobile phones ( smartphones), etc.
A browser is a client program that contacts the webserver for the information requested by the user. The job of the web server is to send the output back to the client’s browser. HTTP is the protocol with full from as Hypertext Transfer Protocol. This protocol is used by the browser to send requests to web servers.
There are numerous browsers available, for example, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Apple Safari, Microsoft Edge, Opera, etc., among all of the browsers Internet Explorer and Google Chrome, are the most used browsers on PCs and laptops.
Browsers can also be used to perform tasks such as web page designing and e-commerce transactions. A browser is used to access information on the web and can also be used to access information hosted on Web servers in private networks.
There are numerous benefits of using a browser to access the internet, those are; Preserved Digital Chain of Custody, Safe Website Searching, Maintain Anonymity While Investigating, Gain Easy Access to Restricted Websites, No Manual Maintenance or Patches, and so on.
Main Differences Between Search engine and Browser
- Search engines are used to search particular information on a website, on the other hand, browsers are used to access the internet.
- To open a search engine user needs to have a Browser but there is no need to have a search engine to open the browser. Which means the search engine is dependent on the browser but the browser is not dependent on the search engine.
- The search engine contains its database on the contrary Browser Does not require any database.
- The search engine is intended to gather Information regarding several URLs and to maintain it, whereas Browsers are intended to Display the web page of the current URL available at the server.
- Some examples of search engines are, Google, Yahoo, Bing, Yandex, etc., on the other hand, some examples of browsers are, internet explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Opera, Microsoft Edge, etc.
Conclusion
They are easily accessible on mobile phones, laptops, PCs, tablets, etc., there are various search engines and browsers available.
Google and Google Chrome at the most used and preferred search engine and browser respectively. both of them are available on several devices.
References
- https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=RLpADwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=what+is+search+engine&ots=7RN84arZKN&sig=mG8VYDNBc5p0NhIs1b4yoRB6bmE
- https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/291080.291092