How Does the Internet Work ?

The Full form of HTTP is Hypertext Transfer Protocol .

Hypertext - It is defined as the set of rules used by the web browsers and servers in order to communicate with each other and also helps in communication over the internet.

Protocol - It is defined as set the set of rules or guidelines or doing the work in an organized manner means to say that data can be transferred over the internet by following a set of rules

and also ensuring that devices can communicate with each other efficiently and in a adequate manner.

State - It is the condition or status of a system at a particular instance of time.

Stateless - It is the condition in which there is no retain of information about the previous state or previous interaction . The request are treated independently and separately without knowing the prior knowledge or history.

Session - It is period of interaction between a user and system where the exchange of the information gets happened. They often involve storing temporary data to track users activity.

Ex- Social Media: Your interaction from logging into a social media platform, viewing posts, commenting, and messaging friends until you log out constitutes a session.

Cookies- These are small pieces of data stored on your computer by websites you visit. They help websites remember information about your visit, like your preferences or login status, to improve your browsing experience. They also helps in showing you that content that you want to see depending upon the cookies that is stored in your account. They also helps in the interaction of Browser with the server.

Ex - Language Preferences: Sites remember your preferred language through your cookies

that are stored in your account.

HTTP headers are pieces of information sent between a web browser and a server during a web request or response. They contain metadata about the request or response, such as the type of content being sent, the language, the server type, and more. This information helps both the browser and server understand how to process the data being exchanged.

Request-response model When you visit a website, there is a request send by your browser to the server asking for specific information, like a web page. The server then processes this request and sends back a response containing the requested data, such as the HTML content of the page. This model is the foundation of how web browsers and servers communicate over the internet.

Types of Request :

1. GET: Used to ask for data from a server, like viewing a webpage.

2. POST: Used to send data to a server, like submitting a form.

3. PUT: Used to update existing data on a server.

4. DELETE: Used to remove data from a server.

5. HEAD: Similar to GET, but only retrieves the headers, not the actual data.

6. OPTIONS: Used to find out what methods are available for a resource on a server.

7. PATCH: Used to make partial updates to existing data on a server.

Response code - It helps us in getting to know that whether the request is getting executed properly or not. It also helps in knowing that if the request gets failed then what is the error behind it .

Here comes the HTTP versioning Story :

• HTTP 1.0: The first version of HTTP , only Accessed by the US military .

• HTTP 1.1: An improved version that is publicly available. It helps is handling the fallback ( downfall) of http2.

• HTTP/2: It is a major update designed to further improve speed and efficiency.

HTTPS (Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure). It is a secure version of HTTP, the protocol used for transferring data over the web. It encrypts the data exchanged between your browser and the website, ensuring that sensitive information like passwords and credit card numbers is protected.

HTTPS might not be used internally on a server because it can add extra processing work due to encryption, making things slower. It also requires managing security certificates, which can be complex. It can add extra resources use, and extra cost on billing if you using a paid server.

Let’s have a discussion on some protocols :

User Agent - It is defined as agent that sends the request to the server like chrome , safari.

TCP(Transmission Control Protocol) - It is connection-oriented, maintains a stable connection throughout the data transfer process. This makes it ideal for applications where data accuracy is crucial, like web browsing, email, and file transfers.

However, this reliability comes at the cost of some speed, as TCP needs to verify each packet and maintain the connection state. Moreover it works in handshake process. It is slower than UDP.

UDP (User Datagram Protocol)- A connectionless protocol that sends data without establishing a stable connection first. It's faster than TCP but less reliable since it doesn't verify packet delivery. Ideal for real-time applications like streaming and gaming where speed matters more than perfect data delivery.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol)- Used to transfer files between a client and a server on a network.

IP (Internet Protocol)- Responsible for addressing and routing packets of data so they can travel across networks and arrive at the correct destination. Used in all internet communications.

URL (Uniform Resource Locator)- The address used to access resources on the internet, such as web pages. It specifies the location of a resource and the protocol to retrieve it.

DNS (Domain Name System) -Translates human-readable domain names (like www.abc.com) into IP addresses that computers use to identify each other on the network. Used to access websites using easy-to-remember names.

Header These are pieces of information sent between a web browser and a server during a web request or response. They contain metadata about the request or response, such as content type, language, and server type.

Cache They stores copies of data or web pages to make future requests faster.