Group items tagged

In computing, a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) consists of a string of characters used to identify or name a resource on the Internet. Such identification enables interaction with representations of the resource over a network (typically the World Wide Web) using specific protocols. Schemes specifying a specific syntax and associated protocols define each URI. Contents [hide]

A Uniform Resource Name (URN) functions like a person's name, while a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) resembles that person's street address. The URN defines an item's identity, while the URL provides a method for finding it. The ISBN system for uniquely identifying books provides a typical example of the use of typical URNs. ISBN 0486275574 (urn:isbn:0-486-27557-4) cites unambiguously a specific edition of Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. In order to gain access to this object and read the book, one would need its location: a URL address. A typical URL for this book on a unix-like operating system might look like the file path file:///home/username/RomeoAndJuliet.pdf, identifying the electronic book saved in a local hard disk. So URNs and URLs have complementary purposes.

These headers tell us which web server you were trying to contact.  If that seems odd, bear in mind that many web sites can be "hosted" on a single server, so when the request is received it needs to know which web site you were attempting to access

The request method is usually either "GET" or "POST".  Basically if you fill in and submit a form on a web page it might generate a POST request (or it might be "GET"), whereas if you just click on a link, or activate one of your browser's "bookmarks" or "favourites", then the request method will always be "GET". Therefore, if it's "POST", we can tell that a form was definitely submitted.  The contents of the form would appear here, and there would also be some "Content-" headers describing the data. Web browsers generate two kinds of "POST" data: either "multipart/form-data", which is used when uploading files to a web server, or the more common "application/x-www-form-urlencoded".

The "referer" header tells us which document referred you to us - in essence, if you followed a link to get to this page, it is the URL of the page you came from to get here.

Introduction to XML