What is HTTP?
What Does HTTP Mean
HTTP is the acronym corresponding to the English phrase Hypertext Transfer Protocol , translated into our language as Protocol HyperText Transfer . It is a communication protocol that enables the circulation of information through the World Wide Web ( WWW ).
Likewise, it is interesting to know the etymological origin of these words that shape http:
* hyper , in the first place, comes from the Greek "hyper", which can be translated as "on top" or "on";
* text , on the other hand, comes from the Latin "textus" and which, in turn, derives from the verb "texere", which is synonymous with "braiding" or "weaving";
* The term transfer must be indicated that it comes from the Latin verb “transferre”, which is equivalent to “transfer” or “carry from one place to another”;
* The noun protocol , on the other hand, we have to establish that it emanates from the Greek, specifically, from “protokollon”. This word is the result of the sum of two lexical components of that language: the word "protos", which means "first", and the noun "kollea", which is synonymous with "glue" or "glue".
A communication protocol is formed by a series of rules that indicate how a communication process should be established. The WWW , meanwhile, is a document transfer system linked to each other via the Internet (a decentralized set of computer networks).
What HTTP does is define the semantics and syntax used by the software elements that make up the WWW architecture . The protocol follows a scheme based on the requests that a client (such as a web browser) makes to a server (a computer where web pages are hosted), which in turn delivers the responses .
These requests are messages with a certain format. The HTTP is responsible for determining which request methods that may be employed are. The server, meanwhile, provides a response code that is a number with information about what has happened to the request.
The HTTP , ultimately, is the basis on which develops WWW . When an Internet user uses a browser (such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox ) to visit a website, what they are doing is using an HTTP session to obtain what they see as a result: text, images, etc. For this reason, the addresses that are entered in the navigation bar of a browser begin with http , indicating the protocol that will be used to display the pages.
Other data of interest of the HTTP protocol are the following:
* It was designed back in the 90's;
* It is necessary to establish that between the user and the server there are elements that function as intermediaries. We are referring to some such as the router, the modem, the optical fiber or the ADSL;
* Those in charge of managing HTTP messages are the proxies, among which are filtering, caching, authentication, event registration, and load balancing of requests;
* Of the HTTP protocol in question, three fundamental characteristics stand out: that it is extensible, that it is simple and that it has sessions.
Since its launch in 1991, HTTP has had many versions , and in most cases a complete backward compatibility can be seen, that is, they are compatible with the previous ones. The use of version numbers is described in RFC 2145 ( Request for Comments ), the name given to publications by the IETF , the Internet engineering working group, where various aspects of its operation and that of others are specified. networks, such as their procedures and protocols.
The first version was 0.9, which is now obsolete . In October 2018, the 3 was launched, which presents changes such as the use of UDP ( User Datagram Protocol ) instead of TCP ( Internet Protocol Family ).