Server
A computer that waits on the internet for requests and answers them — every site you visit lives on one.
A server is an ordinary computer with an extraordinary job description: stay on, stay connected, and answer. When you open a website your device sends a request; a server somewhere receives it, builds the page, and sends it back — usually in a fraction of a second.
"The cloud" is not a cloud: it's warehouses of these machines, humming in racks, serving billions of requests. This very lesson traveled from one of them to you.
The best way to make it stick: watch it run. Start an interactive lesson →