Tag
HTTP Fundamentals
Build a practical foundation in HTTP requests, responses, methods, status codes, headers, and the request lifecycle. This curated hub brings together 20 related resources.
- Comparisons
301 vs 302 Redirects
Understand the difference between 301 Moved Permanently and 302 Found redirects. Learn when to use each, how browsers cache them, and their SEO implications.
- Glossary
Content Negotiation
Content negotiation lets one URL serve different formats, languages or encodings based on Accept headers. See q-values, Vary, 406 and the caching traps.
- Comparisons
GET vs POST
Understand the fundamental differences between GET and POST HTTP methods. Learn about safety, idempotency, caching, request bodies, and when to use each.
- Glossary
HTTP Header
Learn what HTTP headers are and how they provide metadata about requests and responses. Understand common headers like Content-Type and Authorization.
- Glossary
HTTP Method
Learn what HTTP methods are and how they define actions on resources. Understand GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, and other methods with examples.
- Glossary
HTTP Payload
Learn what HTTP payload means and how message bodies carry data in requests and responses. Understand JSON, form data, and binary payloads.
- Glossary
HTTP Request
Learn what an HTTP request is and how clients send messages to servers. Understand request structure, methods, headers, and body components.
- Glossary
HTTP Response
Learn what an HTTP response is and how servers reply to client requests. Understand response structure, status codes, headers, and body content.
- Glossary
HTTP Session
Learn what HTTP sessions are and how they maintain state across stateless HTTP requests. Understand session cookies, tokens, and server-side storage.
- Guides
HTTP Sessions and State Management Explained
Learn how to manage user state and sessions in stateless HTTP applications using cookies, tokens, and server-side storage.
- Glossary
HTTP Status Code
Learn what HTTP status codes are and how they indicate request results. Understand 1xx, 2xx, 3xx, 4xx, and 5xx code classes with common examples.
- Guides
HTTP Status Codes: Full List with Meanings
Every HTTP status code class from 1xx to 5xx with what each code means and when to return it, including the ones you meet most: 200, 301, 304, 404 and 500.
- Comparisons
HTTP/1.1 vs HTTP/2
Compare HTTP/1.1 and HTTP/2. Understand multiplexing, header compression, server push, and when upgrading to HTTP/2 actually improves performance.
- Glossary
Idempotent
Learn what idempotent means in HTTP. Understand why GET, PUT, and DELETE are idempotent, why POST is not, and how idempotency affects API design.
- Glossary
MIME Type (Media Type)
A MIME type, or media type, is the type/subtype label in Content-Type that tells clients how to interpret a body. Covers nosniff and blocked-script errors.
- Comparisons
PUT vs PATCH
Understand the difference between PUT and PATCH HTTP methods. Learn when to use full replacement vs partial update, and how each affects idempotency and API design.
- Comparisons
PUT vs POST: Create or Replace a Resource
PUT vs POST in REST APIs: who picks the URL, idempotency, retries, upsert, and raw requests showing when to create with POST and when to replace with PUT.
- Guides
Request and Response Lifecycle
Learn how HTTP requests travel from browser to server and back. Understand DNS resolution, TCP connections, request/response flow, and the complete lifecycle.
- Glossary
URI vs URL (and URN)
A URL is a URI that says where a resource lives; a URI only identifies it. See the parts of a URL, what the server never receives and parser pitfalls.
- Guides
What Is HTTP? How the HTTP Protocol Works
HTTP is the request-response protocol behind every web page and API. See a real request and response, then methods, headers, status codes and what HTTPS adds.