Talk:HTTP server

Why did you create this article?
Because it looks like that many people out there periodically ask what the difference between a web server and an HTTP server is and they do not find out a proper answer.

The two terms may look like synonyms but they are not and so I decided to create this article to explain what the subtle difference between them is.

An HTTP server is a server program that implements the server part of the HTTP protocol and that may be used for many communication tasks, provided that the server implements binding not only to serving static files or dynamic content but also to HTTP extensions like WebDAV, to SOAP protocol or to other protocols that can be carried by HTTP messages.

A web server program certainly is an HTTP server but it usually has other features aimed to best serve web contents on a massive scale and so it usually lacks program-to-program fancy features like sub-protocol bindings as SOAP, etc. but may have some other functionalities like those of a Reverse Proxy or of a load balancer too, etc.

The difference between the two terms is very subtle: the term web server predates that of HTTP server because the acronym HTTP became known a few years later (i.e. 1992 .. 1995) than the development and the usage of first web servers (1990 .. 1992).

The idea was to create a stub, a mini article about HTTP server to only define what it is and what the subtle difference between a web server and an HTTP server is (the two terms are almost - but not at all - synonyms). --Ade56facc 23:21, 19 November 2021 (UTC)

To reviewers of the article
I have read about the issues that user ThadeusOfNazereth has raisen about the article and so I discuss them hereafter.

1. This article needs additional citations for verification.
 * OK, first of all it is not easy at all to find out publicly available quality references (not even in books, PDFs, etc.) because these kind of topics are not always described in the right way and most of all they are not up-to-date;
 * the only proper definitions that could be added might be those of the well known RFCs already cited in HTTP and Web server articles but they might not be appropriate because they are focused on HTTP protocol not on programs that implement it;
 * the current sentences that are found in article are obviously correct considering the cited wiki articles and the RFCs.

Given the above reasons, may I ask the reviewers to add the macro where they feel that a sentence should have a specific citation? (Many sentences are justified by what is described in other wiki articles that are linked in article).

Meanwhile, if I am able to, I'll try to add a few citations.

2. The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline.

May I ask you to explain here why? See also above Why did you create this article?.

Thank you for your attention. --Ade56facc 23:21, 19 November 2021 (UTC)