HTTP Request / Response

All web applications follow the same Request / Response cycle when serving content to browsers or mobile applications. It is important to understand the underlying principles of this cycle and exactly how web requests are handled by a web server. You should review the reference material below to understand the anatomy of requests and how servers prepare responses and be comfortable articulating how this cycle works.

Goals/Objectives/Outcomes

• Understand how the request / response cycle is used to serve content to browsers or mobile applications
• Understand how browsers or other clients prepare and send requests to backend servers
• Understand how web servers interpret requests and prepare and deliver responses back to the client
• Understand the anatomy of a URL
• Understand how query parameters and POST data works
• Understand how User Agents are specified and used

Reference Material

• http://www.w3.org/wiki/How_does_the_Internet_work
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request%E2%80%93response
• http://www.slideshare.net/cczona/full-stack-full-circle-what-the-heck-happens-in-an-http-requestresponse-cycle
• http://www.w3schools.com/tags/ref_httpmethods.asp
• http://www.slashroot.in/httphypertext-transfer-protocol-request-and-response
• http://web.stanford.edu/class/msande91si/www-spr04/readings/week1/InternetWhitepaper.htm

Measures of Success

• Participant and fully articulate everything that goes on in an HTTP transaction
• Participant can articulate how browsers prepare and send HTTP requests
• Participant can articulate how web servers interpret requests, prepare and send responses
• Participant can fully describe the anatomy of a URL
• Participant understands the difference between using Query parameters and sending data via HTTP POST