Networking terms
The protocols and patterns connecting every system you build
Every web request, API call, and database query travels through a network. This category covers protocols like TCP/IP, HTTP, WebSockets, and gRPC, alongside concepts like DNS resolution, load balancing, TLS handshakes, and network latency. Understanding how data moves between systems is essential for building reliable, performant distributed applications.
HTTP/2 Server Push & Early Hints
HTTP/2 Server Push lets a server proactively send assets (CSS, JS, fonts) before the browser requests them. 103 Early Hints is its practical successor — sending Link preload headers before the full response is ready.
1mo ago
networking intermediate
How CDNs Work
CDNs use Anycast routing and distributed edge PoPs to serve content from the nearest location — reducing latency from 300ms to 5ms for cached responses.
2mo ago
networking intermediate
HTTP Request-Response Cycle
The complete lifecycle of an HTTP request — DNS resolution, TCP connection, TLS handshake, request transmission, server processing, and response delivery.
2mo ago
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Latency vs Bandwidth
Latency is delay per request (physics + processing); bandwidth is throughput — high bandwidth does not fix high latency for small interactive responses.
2mo ago
networking intermediate
Long Polling vs SSE vs WebSockets PHP 5.0+
Long polling (HTTP hacks), SSE (one-way push over HTTP), WebSockets (full-duplex) — use SSE for server-to-client only, WebSocket for bidirectional.
2mo ago
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NAT & Port Forwarding
NAT maps multiple private IPs to one public IP — understanding NAT explains why ngrok is needed for local webhook testing and how Docker port mapping works.
2mo ago
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OpenID Connect (OIDC) PHP 7.0+
An identity layer on top of OAuth 2.0 — while OAuth 2.0 handles authorisation (access to resources), OIDC adds authentication (who the user is) via the ID token.
2mo ago
networking intermediate
SSL/TLS Certificate Types
DV (automated domain validation), OV (organisation verified), EV (deprecated green bar), Wildcard — Let's Encrypt provides free DV with automated 90-day renewal.
2mo ago
networking intermediate
TCP vs UDP
TCP provides reliable ordered delivery with connection setup overhead. UDP is connectionless and faster but unreliable — choose based on whether loss or latency is more acceptable.
2mo ago
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CORS PHP 5.0+ Cross-Origin Resource Sharing — the browser mechanism that controls which cross-origin requests are permitted, using HTTP headers negotiated between client and server.
2mo ago
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DNS Record Types DNS records map domain names to various targets — A (IPv4), AAAA (IPv6), CNAME (alias), MX (mail), TXT (verification/SPF), SRV (services), and NS (nameservers).
2mo ago
networking intermediate
DNS Resolution The process of translating a human-readable domain name into an IP address via a hierarchy of DNS servers.
2mo ago
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Email Deliverability PHP 5.0+ The technical requirements for email reaching inboxes rather than spam folders — SPF, DKIM, DMARC, and sending reputation work together to authenticate your emails.
2mo ago
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HTTP Methods — Idempotency & Safety Safe methods (GET, HEAD) have no side effects. Idempotent methods (GET, PUT, DELETE, HEAD, OPTIONS) produce the same result regardless of how many times they are called.
2mo ago
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IPv6 for Web Developers The successor to IPv4 with 128-bit addresses — effectively unlimited address space, mandatory in modern infrastructure, with some practical differences for web applications.
2mo ago
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OAuth 2.0 PHP 7.0+ An authorisation framework that allows applications to obtain limited access to user accounts on third-party services without exposing passwords.
2mo ago
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Reverse Proxy vs Load Balancer A reverse proxy forwards client requests to backend servers, adding SSL termination, caching, and compression. A load balancer distributes traffic across multiple backends for scalability.
2mo ago
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TCP/IP Model The four-layer model (Link, Internet, Transport, Application) that describes how data is packaged, routed, and delivered across the internet.
2mo ago
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TLS Handshake The negotiation process between client and server that establishes an encrypted HTTPS connection, agreeing on cipher suites and exchanging keys.
2mo ago
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WebSocket Protocol PHP 7.0+ A full-duplex communication protocol over a single TCP connection — the client and server can both send messages at any time without polling.
2mo ago
networking intermediate