Reading Protocols and Standards (WIP)

Purpose

While not as precise as computer source code, protocols and standards can be a great resource from time to time. In this lesson, we spend some time learning about RFCs, how to read them, and then explore RFC 3986, Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax, in detail.

Learning Material

Read through this post about reading RFCs.

Read RFC 3986 Uniform Resource Identifier (URI): Generic Syntax.

Browse through the full table of contents of the HTML standard. Read through section 1 carefully.

Exercises

To learn as much as possible from these exercises, write your responses before revealing the provided answers. If any exercises seem irrelevant, you can skip them and instead write a justification as to why they are unimportant. These justifications will help us improve the lesson for future students.

Exercise 1

What is the purpose of a URI?

Exercise 2

Give two examples of commonly used “schemes.”

Exercise 3

What is URI normalization? When is it important that a URL be normalized?

Exercise 4

How does percent encoding work?

Exercise 5

What are absolute vs relative URIs? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Exercise 6

Following the collected ABNF for URIs in Appendix A, draw a tree diagram that demonstrates the parts and subparts of https://www.google.com/search?source=hp&q=dicom#ed_8

Exercise 7

Select an aspect of HTML that you wish you understood better, and spend some time reading the relevant section of the HTML standard. Familiarize yourself with any relevant terms, and write a few notes from what you have learned.