You may have seen http:// before a domain address in the browser's URL bar when using the Internet. But, have you ever wondered what is HTTP and what the full form of HTTP is.
In this article, we have explained what is HTTP, what is HTTP full form, its working, characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages.
What You Will Learn
What is the full form of HTTP?
The meaning or full form of HTTP is ‘HyperText Transfer Protocol’. It is an application protocol that is responsible for providing necessary standards for web browsers to form a communication over the Internet.
The full form of HTTP can be explained as:
| H | Hyper |
| T | Text |
| T | Transfer |
| P | Protocol |
Note: It is important to note that 'hypertext' is a single word.
Let’s talk about what an HTTP is:
What is HTTP?
HTTP is a networking protocol that is primarily used for collaborative, distributed, hypermedia information systems. It is the foundation of data communication for the WWW; it means that it transfers the data (i.e., text, images, audio, video, etc.) on WWW. In simple terms, HTTP helps establish a connection between various systems over the web to transfer the hypertext from client-end to the server-end.
What is Hypertext?
Hypertext is a specific type of text that contains a link. This means that if we click on a word or text on a webpage that has a link with it, we will be redirected to a new web page based on the specified link.
How does HTTP work?
When we enter http:// in the browser's URL bar before the domain name, it tells the browser to connect over HTTP. In this case, the browser creates a new GET request and sends it across the Internet. Once the target server receives this request, it creates an HTTP response back to the user's browser. If the connection is well established, a web page will be provided from the server. Otherwise, there will be an HTTP status code explaining the errors.
Is HTTP secure?
HTTP is not considered as a secure connection. It is because HTTP requests are sent to the host server in plain text, whatever the user has entered into the text fields of the web page. This is risky in cases where the user enters important information such as credit card details or any other personal details. Hackers or anyone who is monitoring a session can easily read text data sent or received over HTTP.
Characteristics of HTTP
Some of the main Characteristics of HTTP are given below:
• As soon as the data is properly exchanged, the connection is terminated.
• Any kind of data can be exchanged over HTTP as long as the client and server are compatible with it.
• This is a stateless system because each command is executed separately without using a reference to the previous run command.
• It is a connection-less protocol because once the connection is closed; the client as well as the server does not remember anything.
Advantages of HTTP
Some of the main advantages of HTTP are given below:
• Errors can be reported without terminating the existing connection.
• Because it has some TCP connections, network congestion is less.
Disadvantages of HTTP
Some of the main disadvantages of HTTP are given below:
• HTTP is less secure as it does not use any encryption algorithm.
• It uses comparatively more power to form communication and further transfer data.
• It is not optimized for cellular phones or mobile devices. The client does not close the connection until the entire data is fetched, leaving the server unavailable to other clients.
Summary
HTTP (abbreviated as HyperText Transfer Protocol) is not secure and that is why most websites today prefer HTTPS. In addition, websites built over HTTPS achieve better search engine rankings than sites built over HTTP.
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