I would like to know how web queries are set up on the server side (if,
indeed, there is any setup involved), in other words, how do they work?

When I do a web query, am I requesting information from a database on the
web server, or am I just looking for tables on a particular web page?

To ask with an example, can I submit a web query to this symbol lookup page
on Yahoo Finance?
http://finance.yahoo.com/l or would I have to query the webpage that
returns results for a typed-in request, for example, this page that is
returned from typing in "Intel" and pressing "Look Up":
http://finance.yahoo.com/l?s=intel&t=S&m=US

If this is a complex issue, I'd appreciate links to articles.

Shockley