HTTP is the protocol on which the Web is based. Invented by Tim Berners-Lee between the years 1989-1991, HTTP has seen many changes, keeping most of its simplicity and developing its flexibility. HTTP has evolved, from a protocol intended for the exchange of files in a semi-secure laboratory environment, to the current labyrinth of the Internet, now serving for the exchange of images, high-resolution videos and 3D.
When you type a web address in your browser and the page you want opens, it is because your browser has communicated with the web server over HTTP. In other words, the HTTP protocol is the code or language in which the browser tells the server which page it wants to view.
The easiest way to explain how HTTP works is by describing how a web page is opened:
▸In the browser’s address bar, the user types example.com.
▸The browser sends that request, that is, the HTTP request, to the web server managing the example.com domain.
▸The web server receives the HTTP request, searches for the file in question, and sends a header first. This header communicates to the client, by means of a status code, the search result.
▸If the requested file has been found and the client has requested to receive it, the server sends, after the header, the body of the message.
▸The browser receives the file and opens it as a web page.
The environment in which HTTP is used today is very different from what it was in the early 1990s. The original development of HTTP has proven to be a masterpiece, allowing the Web to evolve over a period of time. Quarter of a century, fixing bugs, and maintaining the flexibility and extensibility that have made HTTP a success, the adoption of HTTP / 2 has a bright future.
Other reads:
PPP protocol and what does it offers us
IPv5 – What happened with this protocol?
