HTTP Is Not Simple

16 days ago

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HTTP is not a simple protocol, despite common misconceptions.
HTTP/1 may appear simple due to readable text and basic use cases, but its machinery is complex.
HTTP/1.1 introduced features like pipelining and 100 response codes that are rarely used and complicate implementations.
HTTP headers can be arbitrarily long, use different line endings, and may be folded or merged, adding complexity.
Determining the end of a HTTP/1 body is not straightforward, with multiple methods like Content-Length, chunked encoding, and Connection: close.
Parsing numbers in HTTP is slow and error-prone due to various formats and potential issues like integer overflows.
HTTP/1.1 specs have grown significantly over time, from 18,615 words in HTTP/1.0 to over 95,740 words in the latest HTTP/1.1 documents.
Modern HTTP implementations must support additional features like cookies and authentication, which are not part of the main HTTP spec.
HTTP methods and headers are not uniformly implemented, leading to interoperability issues.
Browser implementations often prioritize user experience over strict protocol adherence, influencing HTTP behavior.
HTTP/1 remains widely used despite its complexity, especially in small applications and IoT, due to its efficiency and low CPU usage.
Future HTTP versions are expected to add more complexity, continuing the trend of protocol evolution.

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