Introduction to HTTP

HTTP was released around 1990, so you are likely familiar with at least the basic concept of enabling client and server communication. The World Wide Web was built on HTTP, and HTTP is still the foundation for the web today.. Understanding this protocol is important if you plan to build a web application, especially in Java. We will explore HTTP in the context of Java in this section.

HTTP core components

HTTP is a stateless protocol that uses a communication model called request-response. Each request-response exchange is independent of all others, making this a very simple protocol. Today’s web services rely heavily on HTTP.

Stateless protocol

A stateless protocol is one where the receiver does not need to retain or track information about the information being sent. No session information is saved.

There are four basic components of HTTP:

• First is the request and response pair. This pair represents the core of all web communication...