What is the difference between Selenium IDE, server, RC, 2.0 and WebDriver?

Question

Selenium seems to have many different components, and the site doesn’t explain them very well, and I'm still a little confused, which is. What is the difference or purpose between:

Selenium IDE Server Selenium Selenium Remote Control WebDriver Selenium 2

My understanding is this:

Selenium IDE is a graphical plugin used to quickly prototype test cases in Selenese / HTML.

Selenium Server is a standalone java program that allows you to run HTML test packages in various browsers, as well as additional parameters such as reporting.

Selenium Remote Control is an old name for Selenium Server, which only supports version 1 of the Selenium API.

WebDriver is the core kernel API that has bindings in different languages ​​and allows you to write standalone tests.

Selenium 2 is the latest version of the Selenium project and includes IDE, Server and WebDriver.

Answer 1

You are almost right.

• The Selenium IDE is a Firefox plugin that is used to quickly prototype test cases in Selenese / HTML, which can also export test cases in different programming languages.

• Selenium Server is a separate Java program that allows you to run test cases written in different programming languages ​​with different web browsers and which can additionally run HTML test suites in different browsers, plus additional parameters such as reporting. (I want to say that the -htmlsuite selenium-server.jar option is not its main function and will soon be divided into a separate program.)

• Selenium Remote Control is an API for programming tests in different languages ​​in Selenium 1 and Selenium 2, as well as the name of the Selenium 1 server on which the API is running.

• WebDriver is an API for programming tests in different languages ​​in Selenium 2, which can work with or without a server.

• Selenium 2 is the latest version of the Selenium project and includes the IDE, server, and Selenium RC and WebDriver APIs.

Besides:

• Selenium Grid is a server that distributes tests through a set of Selenium servers. In Selenium 1 it is a separate server, in Selenium 2 it is integrated into Selenium Server.

Answer 2

The accepted answer is good, but since then the best explanation has been posted on the Internet:

• Relationships Between Different Versions Of Selenium - With Relationship Schedule
• Selenium WebDriver architecture by Simon Stewart, explaining project history and problems. Fascinating reading!