HTTP

URI

Uniform Resource Identifier is a string used to identify any resource.

DNS

Domain Name System resolves domain names to IP addresses (and a little more)

authority

the part of the URI that contains network connection information. This includes the host address, optional

port number, optional username, and optional password

path

the part of the URI that looks like a file path. These identify a resource on the server.

query paremeters

key=value pairs delimited by ampersands that appear after the path and a question mark. These

are intended to provide parameters to the resource.

fragment

Also called an anchor, this is an identifier for a specific part of the resource.

schema

the very first part of the URI, ending with a colon, this part indicates the protocol required to reach the resource and usually implies a port number.

HTTP

HyperText Transport Protocol

port 80

he conventional http port

https

“Secure” HTTP - HTTP over TLS

port 443

conventional port for HTTPS

TLS/SSL

Transport Layer Security/Secure Sockets Layer. Provides encryption and identity verification. TLS and SSL are sometimes used interchangeably, but TLS actually supersedes SSL. Someone saying SSL today usually really means TLS.

client to server encryption

communication between a client and server using TLS is encrypted, and cannot be

eavesdropped on.

identity

TLS uses asymmetric encryption which affords identity verification with a caveat

trust

the caveat is that there is a chain you trust on their key

HyperText

text with embedded links to other documents.

HTTP Request method

the verb the client uses when making an HTTP request to indicate what it wants the server

to do with the resource in question.

GET

HTTP request method to retrieve the resource contents

POST

HTTP request method to create a new resource with the contents of the request body.

DELETE

HTTP request method to remove the resource

PUT

HTTP request method to replace the resource with the contents of the request body

HTTP Response a codes

status indicators the server uses when responding to a request. These come with a three

digit number and a textual description. The numbers are group into five general types by the first number in the code.

1xx

HTTP responses providing information about the resource but that client should stay on the line

2xx

HTTP responses indicating a successful request and response.

3xx

HTTP responses providing information about the resource and the client should go away.

4xx

HTTP responses indicating that the request contained some error.

5xx

HTTP responses indicating that the server encountered an error.

HTTP headers

key: value pairs between the first line of the request or response and the body. These provide

additional information about the request or response.

basic authentication

a simple username/password authentication mechanism built into the HTTP protocol.

401

the response code sent to the client if the resource requires authentication to access

403

The response code sent to the client if the client is authenticated, but does not have authorization to access the resource in the way requested.

base64 encoding is not encryption

seriously. Internalize that. I know it looks like it, but it really, really isn’t.

set cookie

response header included by the server to ask that the client save a key=value piece of data and include it on subsequent requests. This is part of how we layer stateful session management on top of the stateless HTTP protocol.

cookie

the request header containing all cookies the server asked the client to set, delimited by semicolons.

3rd party cookies

cookies set by servers other than the one the user is intending to visit. These may be set as the result of the primary site including scripts, style sheets, or images from another server. This practice enables tracking users behaviors