HTTP, the version history.

HTTP, the version history.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the primary protocol used to transfer data on the World Wide Web. There have been several versions of the HTTP protocol over the years, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. Here are some of the most significant HTTP protocol versions:

1. HTTP/0.9: This was the first version of the HTTP protocol. It was released in 1991 and supported only the GET method, which allowed clients to request HTML documents from servers. It didn’t support headers or request/response messages, which meant that it was limited in functionality.
2. HTTP/1.0: This version of the HTTP protocol was released in 1996. It introduced support for POST, HEAD, and OPTIONS methods, along with a range of response codes. It also introduced the use of headers to convey additional information between clients and servers. The disadvantage of this version is that it required a new connection for each request, which made it inefficient.
3. HTTP/1.1: This version was released in 1999 and remains the most widely used version of the HTTP protocol today. It introduced persistent connections, which allowed multiple requests to be sent over a single connection, reducing the overhead of establishing new connections. It also added support for chunked transfer encoding, which allows data to be sent in smaller, more manageable pieces. One disadvantage is that HTTP/1.1 can suffer from head-of-line blocking, where the response to one request blocks the response to another request.
4. HTTP/2: This version of the HTTP protocol was released in 2015. It introduced several improvements over HTTP/1.1, including multiplexing, which allows multiple requests to be sent and received over a single connection simultaneously. It also added support for server push, which allows servers to send data to clients without waiting for a request. The disadvantage is that HTTP/2 requires more processing power and resources than previous versions.
5. HTTP/3: This version of the HTTP protocol was released in 2020. It is based on the QUIC protocol and uses UDP instead of TCP, which can result in faster and more reliable connections. It also includes features such as stream multiplexing, encryption by default, and connection migration, which allows a connection to be moved from one IP address to another without interrupting the data transfer. One disadvantage is that some older infrastructure may not support HTTP/3.

In summary, each version of the HTTP protocol has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the choice of which version to use depends on the specific needs of a given application or website.

More to come on QUIC, UDP, and TCP. Stay tuned…