What is HTTP

Q: What is the primary purpose of HTTP?

Communication on the World Wide Web

by Yogi P - September 3, 2023

What is the HTTP Full Form?

The HTTP full form stands for HyperText Transfer Protocol, and it is an application protocol used for communication on the World Wide Web. It is the underlying protocol that defines how data is exchanged between two computers over the Internet.

What Does HTTP Do?

HTTP is the language that web browsers and servers use to communicate with each other. Whenever you type in a web address into a browser bar (such as google.com), your browser will typically send an HTTP request to the web server hosting that website. The server will send back a response in the form of webpages, images, video, or other content which the browser then displays on your screen. This same process is repeated every time you open a new website or perform a check for new information.

What Are The Parts Of An HTTPS Request?

An HTTP request is generally composed of six parts. It includes a request line, headers, body, cookies, caching and authentication information.

The Request Line specifies the action to be taken on the requested resource. This includes the HTTP version, followed by the request type. Common request types include GET, POST, PUT, PATCH and DELETE.

Headers are an additional piece of information sent to the server along with the request. These can include information on the user-agent, content type, language and so on.

The Body of the request is used to specify the parameters to be processed. For example, in a POST request it may include the data sent as part of a form submission.

Cookies can be used to store information about a particular user or device, such as a unique identifier or session information.

Caching can be used to store previously fetched webpages so that they can be retrieved quickly on subsequent requests.

Authentication is used to verify the identity of the user. This is commonly used when accessing secure sites where a username and password is required.

In Conclusion

HTTP is the main protocol by which web browsers and web servers interact and communicate. It is the foundation of the World Wide Web and is necessary for viewing most websites. It is, therefore, an important part of today’s Internet that everyone should be familiar with.