Thread: HTTP Requests

  1. #1
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    HTTP Requests

    Hi,

    Can someone recommend a book that explains the story behind http requests that web servers send and receive?

    As a desktop/mobile native applications developer and NOT a web developer I need at least good introduction. I have never done web development and I know very little about perl/php/rails/JavaScript and related technologies. I need a good book with examples and exact strings, headers, meta data descriptions, request params like browser id (user agent) and details about GET, PUT and other requests.

    For example, if a web site has two fields, Name and Second name and a submit button, what should I do to submit that information to the server. Plus the story behind REST and similar stuff.

    I have done some of these things in my applications but without really understanding why am I doing something, just by looking at examples and other peoples code and now I need to start acting like a grown up and learn at least something about these things. I've been parsing HTML in my own code, I use Facebook SDK, Dropbox SDK, SkyDrive SDK and have used JSON to talk to Google/Bing API but I still don't understand a lot about web related development.

    I preffer a book to a web site because I'm over forty and my eyes hate me for staring 10 to 12 hours each day at computer screens.
    Last edited by idelovski; 06-16-2012 at 01:23 PM.

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  3. #3
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    Hm, seems like "Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy" is one of the top suggestions.



    I did spend some time on Amazon before asking this question here but I had too many candidates. Now I removed some items and came down to 5 books:

    1. Http: The Definitive Guide, first suggestion from your link, and my first choice at the moment
    2. Web Protocols and Practice, has good reviews on Amazon
    3. Http Developer's Handbook, second on your link
    4. Http Pocket Reference, from your link, this one I haven't noticed on Amazon before
    5. JavaScript: The Good Parts - just a hunch, most sites contain lots of JavaScript and I know nothing about it

    Anyone has a book on my list? Any suggestions?
    Last edited by idelovski; 06-17-2012 at 11:00 AM.

  4. #4
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    In case anyone may wonder, I just got "Http Pocket Reference" from Amazon today and it is extremely small. It has only 75 pages, but it also small in any other measure one can measure a book. I think Galaxy Note has bigger screen than this book.

    On the other hand, content looks great. Just what I needed in the first place. Without telling me who was Tim Berners-Lee or anything like that, the book starts with http detailed request and response and guides me from there. So cool.

    Once I finish with it I'll probably buy the first and the last book from the list above, but it looks like I can postpone that order until the end of year because this pocket book turned out very useful.

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