.
is a shorthand for the current directory and is used in Linux and Unix to execute a compiled program in the current directory. That is why you don't see this used in Web Development much except by open source, non-Windows frameworks like Google Angular which was written by people stuck on open source platforms.
./
also resolves to the current directory and is atypical in Web but supported as a path in some open source frameworks. Because it resolves the same as no path to the current file directory its not used. Example: ./image.jpg = image.jpg. Again, this is a relic of Unix operating systems that need path resolutions like this to run executables and resolve paths for security reasons. Its not a typical web path. That is why this syntax is redundant.
../
is a traditional web path that goes one directory up
/
is the ROOT of your website
These path resolutions below are true...
./folder= folder
this is always true in web path resolution
./file.html = file.html
this is always true in web path resolution
./ = {no path}
an empty path is the same as ./
in the web world
{no path} = /
an empty path is the same as the web root if your file is in the root directory
./ = /
ONLY if you are in the root folder
../ = /
ONLY if you are one folder below the web root