Everything you need to know about HTTP Header syntax but were afraid to ask
If you use HTTP then the chances are good that you have to deal with HTTP headers. The syntax of HTTP headers has a long and tortured history, originating from the syntax of email headers. All too often I see headers that don't conform to the specifications. This makes everyone's job a little bit harder. The recent releases of the HTTP specifications have done a fair amount of clarification and consolidation to make getting the syntax right.
Hypermedia as the engine of application state, the client-server dance
We are currently seeing a significant amount of discussion about building hypermedia APIs. However, the server side only plays part of the role in a hypermedia driven system. To take full advantage of the benefits of hypermedia, the client must allow the server to take the lead and drive the state of the client. As I like to say, it takes two to Tango.
The Insanity of the Vary Header
In my first deep dive into a HTTP header on the user-agent header I said that I would try and produce a series of posts going under the covers on certain HTTP headers. This post is about the Vary header. The Vary header both wonderful and sad at the same time. I'll discuss how to make it work for you and where it fails miserably.