What is HTTP/2 and how is it different from HTTP/1?
What is HTTP?
HTTP stands for Hypertext Transfer Protocol. It is a set of rules for how computers communicate over the internet. It is the foundation of the World Wide Web and is used to transfer information between web servers and web browsers.
HTTP is a client-server protocol, which means that one computer (the client) makes a request to another computer (the server). The client sends a request message to the server, and the server sends a response message back to the client.
The request message contains the following information:
The method: This specifies the action that the client wants the server to perform. For example, the GET method requests a resource, the POST method sends data to the server, and the PUT method updates a resource.
The URI: This is the address of the resource that the client is requesting.
The headers: These are additional pieces of information that the client can send to the server.
The response message contains the following information:
The status code: This indicates the success or failure of the request. For example, a status code of 200 OK indicates that the request was successful, while a status code of 404 Not Found indicates that the resource was not found.
The headers: These are additional pieces of information that the server can send to the client.
The body: This is the actual content of the resource, such as an HTML page or an image.
Here is a simple example of an HTTP request and response:
Client:
GET /index.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
Server: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html
Content-Length: 100
<html>
<head>
<title>My Website</title>
</head>
<body> This is my website! </body>
</html>
Client:
GET /index.html HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com
Server: HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/html Content-Length: 100
<html>
<head>
<title>My Website</title>
</head>
<body> This is my website! </body>
</html>In this example, the client is requesting the file index.html from the server www.example.com. The server responds with a status code of 200 OK, indicating that the request was successful. The server also sends the content of the file index.html, which is an HTML page.
HTTP is a very simple protocol, but it is very powerful. It is the foundation of the World Wide Web, and it is used to transfer all sorts of information, including text, images, videos, and audio.