Understanding HTTP: Versions, WebSockets, and Modern Web Protocols
Introduction to HTTP HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol) is the foundation of data communication on the web. It’s a client-server protocol used for fetching resources such as HTML documents, images, and APIs. HTTP Versions Overview HTTP/1.1 Released in 1997 Supports persistent connections (keep-alive) Still widely used Limitation: Head-of-line blocking HTTP/2 Binary protocol introduced in 2015 Multiplexing: Multiple streams over a single TCP connection Header compression (HPACK) Server push (optional) Faster than HTTP/1.1 HTTP/3 Uses QUIC instead of TCP Built-in encryption (TLS 1.3 only) Better performance on lossy networks Fully multiplexed, no head-of-line blocking WebSockets WebSockets provide a full-duplex communication channel over a single TCP connection. ...