HTTP stands for Hypertext Transport Protocol.
In 1991, Tim Berners-Lee implemented the HTTP protocol at CERN, the European Center for High-Energy Physics in Geneva, Switzerland.
HTTP is the powerful engine enabling hypermedia remote collaboration, and stands at the very essence of the World Wide Web.
HTTP provides the ability to publish the hypermedia resource base locally and have it viewable globally, and the ability to swiftly and easily transfer the hypermedia resources, annotate them, and republish them on another site.
HTTP presupposes the existence of a backbone network connecting all the machines (TCP-IP).
The HTTP protocol can subsume the more basic Internet services.
HTTP Books:
- HTTP Pocket Reference - The HTTP Pocket Reference not only provides a solid conceptual foundation of HTTP, it also serves as a quick reference to each of the headers and status codes that compose an HTTP transaction. The book starts with a tutorial of HTTP, but then explains the client request and server responses in more detail, and gives a thorough technical explanation of more advanced features of HTTP (such as persistent connections and caching).
- Internet Core Protocols: the Definitive Guide - TCP/IP overview, Internet Protocol (IP), Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Multicasting, Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP).