Finally, after almost 2 decades a light has been shed on one of the great mysteries of the internet. What is the point of the two forward slashes that sit directly in front of the “www” in every internet website address? Why not just one forward slash?
The answer, according to the British scientist who created the World Wide Web, is that there isn’t one.
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who wrote the code that transformed a private computer network into the web two decades ago, has finally come clean about the about the infuriating // that internet surfers have cursed so frequently.
He explained that the intent was to separate the protocol name (such as HTTP or FTP) from the rest of the address, but as it turned out only the colon was necessary.
Today the URLs, better known as web addresses — that Sir Tim created, beginning http://www, are familiar to anyone navigating their way around the internet.
Oh well, that’s another Web mystery solved! :)
Related: Happy birthday, dear internet!.
