HTTP & The Request Response Cycle: What Really Happens When You Hit Enter

#backend #webdev #python

Ever wondered what actually happens when you type a URL and hit Enter?
It's not magic, it's HTTP.

What is HTTP?

HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the language browsers and servers
use to talk to each other. Every time you visit a website, your browser
sends an HTTP request and the server sends back an HTTP response.

The Request Response Cycle

Here's how it works step by step:

You type https://example.com in your browser
Your browser sends a REQUEST to the server
The server processes it
The server sends back a RESPONSE
Your browser displays the result

Simple as that!

HTTP Methods

GET : fetch data
POST: send data
PUT : update data
DELETE : remove data

Status Codes

200 : Success
404 : Not Found
500 : Server Error

First Endpoint

For Day 1 of the GDGoC Bowen 30 Day Challenge, I built a simple
Hello World API using FastAPI (Python):

from fastapi import FastAPI

app = FastAPI()

@app.get("/")
def hello():
    return {"msg": "hello"}

Hit the endpoint and it returns:
{"msg": "hello"}

Here's the live response from my FastAPI server:

That's the request-response cycle in action!

Lessons Learned

HTTP is the foundation of everything on the web.
Before you can build APIs, authentication, databases
you need to understand how client and server communicate.

Day 1 done. 29 more to go.