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78 lines
2.8 KiB
78 lines
2.8 KiB
<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
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<head>
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<meta name="generator" content=
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"HTML Tidy for Mac OS X (vers 31 October 2006 - Apple Inc. build 13), see www.w3.org" />
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<title>
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HTTP0.9 Summary -- /DesignIssues
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</title>
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<nextid />
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="#FFC060" text="#302005">
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<a href="OldDocs.html"><img src=
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"../Icons/WWW/arch1992.gif" /></a>
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<hr />
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<address>
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92.06.11 RC, TBL
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</address>
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<h1>
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Summary of HTTP 0.9
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</h1>The current version of <a name="2" href=
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"../Protocols/HTTP/AsImplemented.html">HTTP</a> can be summed
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up as follows:
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<ul>
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<li>A browser only sends the command GET followed by a
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server/document identification optionally followed by a
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question mark and a list of keywords (with no spaces). This
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we call a UDI
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</li>
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<li>A server replies to a GET by supplying a piece of ASCII
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text marked up in HTML, whereby just plain text with no tags
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at all is acceptable. [but should be prefixed with PLAINTEXT
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because the default style for HTML is (a mistake??) free
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format.]
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</li>
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<li>the server holds no state w.r.t. the browser.
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</li>
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<li>if a document contains anywhere the ISINDEX tag then the
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browser takes this to mean that a valid UDI from this
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document to another one may be generated by taking the
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current identifier and appending the keywords given in the
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search panel.
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</li>
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</ul>Note that if responses from the server are encoded into
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HTML tags, then HTTP is very asymmetric: the command GET is not
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in HTML. [Yes, but this is part of HTTP not HTML as <a name="3"
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href="#point">you point out</a> - TBL]
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<h3>
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Advantages
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</h3>There is nothing other than HTML marked up text coming out
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of a server
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<p>
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The browser does not know whether a server serves an index or
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a set of hypertext documents.
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</p>
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<h3>
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Disadvantages
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</h3><a name="point">There is no lexical distinction</a>
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between what constitutes HTTP information, document contents,
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document kind.
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<p>
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In particular, error messages are returned as documents and
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may or may not be ignored by the user.
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</p>
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<h3>
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<a name="1">Good Characteristics</a>
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</h3>Both browsers and servers silently ignore things they
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cannot handle:
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<ul>
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<li>the browser ignores unknown tags,
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</li>
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<li>the server ignores anything after the single GET argument
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(document/serverid?keywords).
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</li>
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</ul>This should be carefully kept: it means the user is not
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annoyed by messages he should not have to deal with (I am
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always thinking of the innocent, naive user who just happens to
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use WWW, not somebody hacking unix programs in C)
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</body>
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</html>
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