HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the underlying protocol of the World Wide Web. Developed by Tim Berners-Lee and his team between 1989-1991, HTTP has gone through many changes that have helped maintain its simplicity while shaping its flexibility. Keep reading to learn how HTTP evolved from a protocol designed to exchange files in a semitrusted laboratory environment into a modern internet maze that carries images and videos in high resolution and 3D.
In 1989, while working at CERN, Tim Berners-Lee wrote a proposal to build a hypertext system over the internet. Initially called the Mesh, it was later renamed the World Wide Web during its implementation in 1990. Built over the existing TCP and IP protocols, it consisted of 4 building blocks:
• A textual format to represent hypertext documents, the HyperText Markup Language (HTML).
• A simple protocol to exchange these documents, the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP).
• A client to display (and edit) these documents, the first web browser called the WorldWideWeb.
• A server to give access to the document, an early version of httpd.
These four building blocks were completed by the end of 1990, and the first servers were running outside of CERN by early 1991. On August 6, 1991, Tim Berners-Lee posted on the public alt.hypertext newsgroup. This is now considered to be the official start of the World Wide Web as a public project. The HTTP protocol used in those early phases was very simple. It was later dubbed HTTP/0.9 and is sometimes called the one-line protocol.
HTTP is a protocol for fetching resources such as HTML documents. It is the foundation of any data exchange on the Web and it is a client-server protocol, which means requests are initiated by the recipient, usually the Web browser. Clients and servers communicate by exchanging individual messages (as opposed to a stream of data). The messages sent by the client, usually a Web browser, are called requests and the messages sent by the server as an answer are called responses. HTTP is an extensible protocol which has evolved over time. It is an application layer protocol that is sent over TCP [Transmission Control Protocol], or over a TLS [Transport Layer Security]-encrypted TCP connection, though any reliable transport protocol could theoretically be used. Due to its extensibility, it is used to not only fetch hypertext documents, but also images and videos or to post content to servers, like with HTML form results. HTTP can also be used to fetch parts of documents to update Web pages on demand.
BASIC ASPECT OF HTTP
HTTP IS SIMPLE
HTTP is generally designed to be simple and human readable, even with the added complexity introduced in HTTP/2 by encapsulating HTTP messages into frames. HTTP messages can be read and understood by humans, providing easier testing for developers, and reduced complexity for newcomers.
HTTP IS EXTENSIBLE
Introduced in HTTP/1.0, HTTP headers make this protocol easy to extend and experiment with. New functionality can even be introduced by a simple agreement between a client and a server about a new header's semantics.
HTTP SESSIONS
Http Session Consist Of Three Phases:
The client establishes a TCP connection (or the appropriate connection if the transport layer is not TCP):- In client-server protocols, it is the client which establishes the connection. Opening a connection in HTTP means initiating a connection in the underlying transport layer, usually this is TCP.
The client sends its request, and waits for the answer:- Once the connection is established, the user-agent can send the request (a user-agent is typically a web browser, but can be anything else, a crawler, for example).
The server processes the request, sending back its answer, providing a status code and appropriate data.
URLs
The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is probably the most known concept of the Web. It is also one of most important and useful concepts. A URL is a web address used to identify resources on the Web. The idea of the web is structured around resources. From its beginnings the Web was the platform for sharing text/HTML files, documents, images etc, and as such it can be considered a collection of resources.
BENEFITS OF HTTPS
The major benefits of a HTTPS are:
• Customer information, like credit card numbers and other sensitive information, is encrypted and cannot be intercepted.
• Visitors can verify you are a registered business and that you own the domain.
• Customers know they are not suppose to visit sites without HTTPS, and therefore, they are more likely to trust and complete purchases from sites that use HTTPS.
Thank you for reading!!!!
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