#HTTP
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HTTP streaming: chunked transfer and what it enables.
Chunked transfer encoding lets servers send response data before they know the total size. Here's how it works and what patterns it unlocks.
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Long polling: the technique that works when WebSockets don't.
Long polling simulates real-time updates using regular HTTP requests held open until data is available. It's a reliable fallback and sometimes the right primary approach.
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Server-sent events: one-way streaming without WebSocket complexity.
Server-sent events push data from server to client over a persistent HTTP connection. For many real-time use cases they're simpler and more appropriate than WebSockets.
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HTTP/2 and HTTP/3: what changes for your app.
How HTTP/2 multiplexing and HTTP/3's QUIC transport improve performance, and what these protocol changes mean for your application design.
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TLS/HTTPS: what happens in the handshake and why it takes time.
A step-by-step look at the TLS handshake, what each round trip accomplishes, and how TLS 1.3 and session resumption reduce the cost.
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The HTTP cache: Cache-Control, ETags, headers that prevent stale data.
How browser caching and CDN caching work through HTTP headers, and how to configure them correctly for different types of content.
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The WebSocket handshake: what's happening in that HTTP upgrade.
WebSocket connections start as HTTP requests. The upgrade handshake is the mechanism that switches protocols. What each header means and how the switch works.