The HTTP Protocol

These flashcards cover key concepts, definitions, and functionalities related to the HTTP protocol as outlined in the lecture notes.

What does HTTP stand for?

Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

What type of protocol is HTTP?

An application-level stateless protocol.

What does a client do in the HTTP protocol?

Sends a request message to a server.

What is the purpose of the server in the HTTP protocol?

Sends back a response message, usually including the contents of the requested resource.

Name the most widely used HTTP versions.

HTTP/1.1, HTTP/2, and HTTP/3.

What feature does HTTP/2 improve over HTTP/1.1?

It improves performance through binary encoding of messages and other techniques.

What is the function of a URI?

To identify an HTTP resource.

What does URI stand for?

Uniform Resource Identifier.

What is a URL?

A Uniform Resource Locator that provides information to locate and access a resource.

What are the components of a URI structure?

Scheme, authority, path, query, and fragment identifier.

What do GET requests do?

Get the contents of resources.

What are POST requests used for?

To perform actions on resources, such as authenticating users or submitting forms.

What is URL encoding?

Encoding of characters not allowed in a URI as an octet sequence.

What type of HTTP status code is 200?

Success; the request was successfully processed.

What is the primary use of cookies in HTTP?

To allow the server to maintain state across requests.

What is HTTPS?

HTTP over TLS (Transport Layer Security) for secure communication.

What security properties does HTTPS provide?

Authentication, confidentiality, and integrity.

What major optimization does HTTP/2 introduce?

Multiplexing multiple requests and responses over the same connection.

In what way does HTTP/3 differ from previous versions?

It uses the QUIC transport protocol over UDP instead of TCP.

What is the function of HTTP PUT requests?

To create a new resource or replace a representation of the target resource with the request payload.

What is the function of HTTP DELETE requests?

To delete the specified resource.

What are the common classes of HTTP status codes?

Information (1xx), Success (2xx), Redirection (3xx), Client Error (4xx), and Server Error (5xx).

How does TLS enhance HTTPS communication?

TLS encrypts the communication and verifies the server's identity, ensuring authentication, confidentiality, and integrity.

What is the general purpose of HTTP headers?

To provide additional information about the request or response, such as content type, caching instructions, or authentication credentials.