HTTP Basics
📌 Covered in this chapter:
Client-Server Model · HTTP Methods · Status Codes · Headers · Request/Response Body
Understand the fundamentals of HTTP — the protocol every Node.js web server and API is built on — before writing any server code.
1HTTP Basics — What You'll Learn
Understand the fundamentals of HTTP — the protocol every Node.js web server and API is built on — before writing any server code.
Here's everything this chapter covers, in the order you'll learn it:
- What HTTP is
- The client and server relationship
- The request
- The response
- HTTP methods: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE
- Status codes (2xx, 3xx, 4xx, 5xx)
- Headers
- Request/response body
- Content types
- JSON as the standard API data format
- REST basics
2Working Example
💻 Example: HTTP Basics
Text
▶ Run in Compiler
GET /api/courses HTTP/1.1
Host: api.ourcompiler.com
Accept: application/json
HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
{ "id": 1, "title": "Node.js Master Course" }3Best Practices & Common Pitfalls
💡 Key things to remember:
- Status codes follow a pattern: 2xx = success, 3xx = redirect, 4xx = client error (e.g. bad request), 5xx = server error.
- GET requests should never modify data on the server — that's what POST, PUT, PATCH and DELETE are for.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q What's the most important thing to understand about http basics?
Focus on: Client-Server Model · HTTP Methods · Status Codes · Headers · Request/Response Body. These are the core building blocks this chapter's examples are built around, and they show up repeatedly in later chapters of this course.
Q Do I need external npm packages for http basics?
Only where explicitly shown in the code examples above (like Express, Zod, or Socket.IO) — otherwise, this chapter relies entirely on Node.js's own built-in capabilities.