Web Development Intermediate

What is WebSocket?

A communication protocol that enables full-duplex, real-time data exchange between a browser and server over a single connection.

WebSockets provide persistent, bidirectional communication between client and server. Unlike HTTP (request-response), WebSockets allow the server to push data to clients instantly without polling.

Use cases include chat applications, live dashboards, gaming, collaborative editing, and real-time notifications. The connection starts as an HTTP upgrade request, then switches to the WebSocket protocol (ws:// or wss://).

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The second major version of HTTP that improves performance through multiplexing, header compression, and server push.

SPA (Single Page Application)

A web application that loads a single HTML page and dynamically updates content without full page reloads.

A query language for APIs that lets clients request exactly the data they need, reducing over-fetching and under-fetching.

JavaScript Object Notation — a lightweight data interchange format that is easy for humans to read and machines to parse.

Software that sits between the request and response in a web application, performing processing like authentication or logging.

An automatic OPTIONS request sent by browsers before certain cross-origin requests to check if the actual request is permitted.

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