Customer Reviews

HTTP Pocket Reference: Hypertext Transfer Protocol

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Overall this is a good book for looking something up, but an index at the end of the book would be very helpful. Without it, you have to thumb through page-by-page and find what you're looking for. Maybe in the 2nd edition.

If the index had been there, it definitely would have gotten four stars.

The book could stand a couple of examples, too, maybe with a CGI program to show the practical application of the information.

I bought two books on HTTP. This one and a very forgetable doorstop of a book. This was by far my favorite. It is only about 70 pages or so, but contains everything I need. I wish I could say this about every book I buy.

If you are planning to work with Java Servlets or CGI, you should get this book.

This is the smallest and shortest book I have probably read since first grade. I did not realize it, at the time of ordering, that this is actually a miniature book. It actually does fit in your pocket.

The HTTP specification is relatively small and simple. This book covers it all. I was able to complete it in two hours. It was refreshing to have such a brief and concise reference available. This book certainly did not fall into the trap of elaborating to the point of irrelevance. I fully recommend this book.

If you develop your own web applications then this book is invaluable! You don't realise that you need it until you know what's in it. An overview of HTTP headers, client methods and server response codes along with URL character and media type tables makes for a great pocket reference!

The O'Reilly pocket references are so concise that they are not really meant for someone who is totally new to the subject. They can however be the ideal way to provide an overview to anyone who wants to know the basics of the topic.

The praise of other reviewers is well met. Overall, this is a very good book and every CGI programmer and anyone else doing Internet programming should buy it.

My only complaint is that it doesn't group information based on servers and is missing some server-specific items that are important, although they are not part of the Spec.

The author, Clinton Wong, does an great job of covering HTTP. He points out the differences between HTTP 1.0 and HTTP 1.1 in an excellent manner. This books covers the following topics:

What is HTTP? -- HTTP Transactions -- Client Methods -- Server Response Codes -- Headers -- URL Encoding -- Client and Server Identification -- Referring Documents -- Retrieving Content -- Media Types -- Cookies -- Authorization -- Persistent Connections -- Client Caching

This is a SMALL book. "HTTP Pamphlet" would be a better description. As a "Pocket Reference", trust me, it will definitely fit in your pocket. However, the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) probably doesn't need more than the 75 pages it is given (after all, it is a pocket reference).

I'm not sure the (price) cover price is right. There are best selling noves 5 times this size that only cost (price). However, technical books, especially computer/programming/networking ones always seem to cost more.

This is a nearly perfect book both for learning HTTP and for an HTTP reference. HTTP is a small, simple protocol, and this is reflected in this book's small size. Great sequence diagrams illustrate the basic HTTP transaction which is detailed in less than ten small pages. And you will probably soon find yourself with several post-it bookmarks or dog-eared pages.

The book could use an explanation of HTTP proxies and gateways and a list of common user-agents. But any more and it would be too long.

Based on this book I wrote my own version of web server in C.

The book gives great insight into the mechanisms on which the Web works and is a valuable tool for anyone trying to do web traffic management or a small embedded web server. Plus nothing is more 1337 than to telnet into a port 80 and surf with self written HTTP headers

This book is what a POCKET REFERENCE ought to be: It gives an appropriate explanation of the material AND it presents elements of the topic in an easy-to-find and organized manner.

It's also inexpensive!