The initial HTTP protocol only had a single 'GET' verb and lacked status codes, making it difficult to programmatically distinguish between successful responses and errors.
HTTP 1.0 formalized the protocol by adding multiple verbs like POST and PUT, standardized status codes for programmatic error handling, and headers like the misspelled 'Referer'.
To handle file uploads in web forms, developers reused email standards, forcing web servers to parse email-formatted requests sent over HTTP.
RFC 2324, an April Fools' standard, satirized inappropriate HTTP extensions by creating the Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP) with a 'BREW' verb and the famous '418 I'm a teapot' error.
RFC 7168 extends the coffee pot protocol for tea, using the '300 Multiple Options' status code to allow a client to select from a list of available teas.
While REST is a logical extension of HTTP's verbs for database operations, returning a 200 OK status with an error in the body undermines the purpose of status codes.
Other humorous yet insightful April Fools' RFCs include specifying an 'evil bit' in TCP packets for firewalls and defining IP over Avian Carriers.
While no fully compliant HTCPCP coffee pots exist due to the protocol's joke nature, many systems implement the '418 I'm a teapot' response and a hackathon project built a working device.
The Q&A session addresses the practical limitations of IP over Avian Carriers, such as high latency and packet loss, and touches on the non-human-readable nature of HTTP/2.
Bitpanda
Vienna, Austria
25:30Lorenzo Pieri
46:42Joel Spolsky
28:55James Seconde
27:25Rustam Mehmandarov
1:12:26David Heinemeier Hansson
20:29Simon Auer
43:11Jeremy Keith
27:17Bastian Eicher
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