Learning Network Programming with Java

Client/server development using standard Java classes

Specifically, we will use the HttpURLConnection and HTTPServer classes to implement a client and server application. These classes support much of the functionality required for clients and servers. Using these classes will avoid writing low-level code to implement HTTP functionality. Low-level code refers to the non-specialized classes, such as the Socket class. Higher-level and more specialized classes, such as the HttpURLConnection and HTTPServer classes, supplement and provide additional support for specialized operations.

The HttpURLConnection class is derived from the HttpConnection class. This base class has a number of methods that not are directly concerned with the HTTP protocol.