Protocols

HTTP

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is an application-layer protocol for transmitting hypermedia documents, such as HTML. It was designed for communication between web browsers and web servers, but it can be used for other purposes as well. HTTP follows a classical client-server model, with a client opening a connection to make a request, then waiting until it receives a response from the server.

Share this starting point code.study/http
Created by
Tim Berners-Lee
First appeared
1991
Official resource
Visit the main website

Your first program

Hello, World!

HTTP
GET /hello.txt HTTP/1.1
Host: www.example.com

Keep learning

Where to go from here

Use trusted documentation for facts and an AI tutor for personalized explanations.

01

Official resource

Learn from the source

Continue with the language’s official documentation, project, or standards site.

Open official resource
02

Personalize it

Ask your AI tutor

Use a focused prompt covering strengths, tradeoffs, setup, and this first program.

Your prompt

Teach me the basics of HTTP. Use https://code.study/http as the starting point. Explain what HTTP is best suited for, when I should not choose it, how to install or try it, and then walk me through its Hello World example step by step.

Content reviewed August 2026 · Start with primary sources and verify version-specific details.