HTTP/2: A New Excerpt from High Performance Browser Networking

Preface

HTTP/2 is here. The standard is approved, all popular browsers have committed to support it, or have already enabled it for their users, and many popular sites are already leveraging HTTP/2 to deliver improved performance. In fact, in a short span of just a few months after the HTTP/2 and HPACK standards were approved in early 2015, their usage on the web has already surpassed that of SPDY! Which is to say, this is well tested and proven technology that is ready for production.

So, what’s new in HTTP/2, and why or how will your application benefit from it? To answer that we need to take an under the hood look at the new protocol, its features, and talk about its implications for how we design, deploy, and deliver our applications. Understanding the design and technical goals of HTTP/2 will explain both how, and why, some of our existing best practices are no longer relevant—sometimes harmful, even—and what new capabilities we have at our disposal to further optimize our applications.

With that, there’s no time to waste, let’s dive in!