7 open source software that supports the entire Internet era

Open source software has now become the supporting technology of the entire Internet era. You may no longer be able to leave the online world built by open source software. Let's take a look at some of the most important open source technologies.

Linux, an operating system born for the Internet

Linux is a free operating system that was launched in 1991. Users can obtain it for free through the Internet or other channels, and can modify its source code at will.

It can run major UNIX tools, applications, and network protocols. It supports 32-bit and 64-bit hardware. Linux inherits the network-centric design concept of Unix and is a multi-user network operating system with stable performance. This system is designed and implemented by thousands of programmers from all over the world. Its purpose is to create Unix-compatible products that are not restricted by the copyright of any commercial software and can be used freely all over the world.

Linux is everywhere. Android phones are developed based on Linux. Most supercomputers in the world use Linux. Most data centers use Linux as their supporting operating system. Google, Baidu, Taobao, etc. all provide the Internet services we use every day through Linux. Linux also plays an important role in aviation control systems.

OpenSSL, a security protocol for encrypting the Internet

OpenSSL is an open source software library package that implements the SSL and TLS protocols. OpenSSL can be said to be a security development package based on cryptography, which includes major cryptographic algorithms, commonly used key and certificate packaging management functions, and SSL protocols, and provides a wealth of applications for testing or other purposes.

It can also be said that OpenSSL is a security protocol that provides security and data integrity for network communications. SSL can provide confidential transmission on the Internet and prevent communications between user/server applications from being eavesdropped by attackers. OpenSSL is widely used by important websites such as online banking, online payment, e-commerce websites, portals, and email.

Last year, a security vulnerability was exposed in OpenSSL. Because it is so widely used, the exposure of the vulnerability shocked the entire Internet.

MySQL, the memory of the Internet

MySQL is an open source, small database management system. Its original developer was the Swedish company MySQL AB, which was acquired by Sun in 2008. In 2009, Oracle acquired Sun, and MySQL became a product of Oracle.

A lot of information is stored in the database. Many engineers use the MySQL database when developing some small projects. MySQL provides API interfaces for multiple programming languages ​​such as C, C++, JAVA, PHP, etc. It also supports multiple systems such as Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. This wide support makes it popular with more developers. MySQL is one of the databases that developers need to master.

MySQL was originally developed for small applications, but now it is no longer a small database. Almost all Internet companies use this database system, and some financial transactions also use MySQL as a database engine. MySQL can support large-scale access and ensure data security through corresponding tuning, and has become an important force threatening traditional commercial database systems.

Universal development tool Eclipse

Eclipse is an open source, Java-based, extensible development platform. Eclipse was originally created by the IDE product development teams of OTI and IBM in April 1999. Currently, IBM is leading the Eclipse project, which has developed into a large Eclipse Alliance. More than 150 software companies have participated in the Eclipse project, including Borland, Rational Software, Red Hat, and Sybase.

In itself, it is just a framework and a set of services for building a development environment through plug-in components. Many Java programming software are developed on the Eclipse platform, and many large companies including Oracle have also joined the project and declared that Eclipse will become an IDE integrator that can be used for development in any language in the future. Users only need to download plug-ins for various languages.

Eclipse is not a product that directly serves consumers. It is more like a universal tool in the hands of a craftsman. Using Eclipse, developers can create a variety of creative services to meet the needs of end users.

Apache, the gatekeeper of the Internet

Apache HTTP Server (Apache for short) is an open source web server of the Apache Software Foundation. It can run on most computer operating systems. It is widely used due to its multi-platform and security, and is also one of the most popular web server software, with a market share of about 60%. It is fast, reliable and can be extended through a simple API. It can be used with various interpreters, including PHP/Perl/Python, etc.

Apache is like a responsible gatekeeper, managing the in and out of the server data. Whenever you enter http://XXX.com in your address bar, there is a high probability that there is a server running Apache at the far end, transmitting the information you need to the browser.

Hadoop, the heart of big data

Hadoop is a software framework that can process large amounts of data in a distributed manner. It was developed by the Apache Foundation. Users can develop distributed programs without understanding the underlying details of the distribution. Hadoop has been helping to solve various problems, including sorting very large data sets and searching large files. It is also the core of various search engines, such as Amazon's A9 and the Able Grape vertical search engine for finding wine information. Alibaba Group also has Hadoop applications in the fields of product recommendation, user behavior analysis, and credit calculation.

At a time when "big data" has become a trend, Hadoop has become the most important technology. It is no exaggeration to say that without Hadoop, there would be no most big data applications. It can be said that for a programmer who does not know Hadoop, you are out.

WebKit, the Internet's "typography engine"

It is called the browser kernel, but in fact, the "typesetting engine" is easier to understand. The information transmitted to the browser through the server is just a string of messy text. In order to see the beautiful netizens we usually see, the browser kernel needs to parse these texts and "draw" the boring description into a beautiful browsing interface.

WebKit is an open source browser engine, and its corresponding engines include Gecko (the typesetting engine used by Mozilla Firefox, etc.) and Trident (also known as MSHTML, the typesetting engine used by IE). According to StatCounter's browser market share survey, in November 2012, Webkit's market share exceeded 40%, and it has become the typesetting engine with the largest market share, surpassing Trident used by Internet Explorer and Gecko used by Firefox, and WebKit's share is increasing year by year.

At present, almost all websites and online banks have gradually supported WebKit. The WebKit kernel is also widely used on mobile phones. For example, Apple's Safari and Google's Chrome browser are developed based on this framework.

summary

Many people may not realize that there is open source software running on our computers, mobile phones, TVs at home, and even small digital products, especially Internet server software, which is almost all open source software. It is no exaggeration to say that open source software has penetrated into every aspect of our daily life.