Protocol Glossary

Browse 27 protocol terms defined in plain English, from the cultural dictionary of computing.

27 Protocol Terms

AMQP
Advanced Message Queuing Protocol — an open standard for message-oriented middleware that defines message format, routing, queuing, and delivery guarantees....
Content Negotiation
An HTTP mechanism where the client and server agree on the best representation of a resource. The client sends Accept headers (Accept: application/json,...
FTP
FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is a standard network protocol used for transferring files between a client and a server over a TCP/IP network. Developed in...
gRPC
A high-performance, open-source RPC framework developed by Google. Uses HTTP/2 for transport, Protocol Buffers for serialization, and supports streaming...
HTTP
HTTP, or HyperText Transfer Protocol, is the application-layer protocol that powers the World Wide Web. It defines how clients (typically web browsers) and...
HTTP/2
The second major version of HTTP, introducing multiplexed streams (multiple requests over one TCP connection), header compression (HPACK), server push, and...
HTTP/3
The third major version of HTTP, built on QUIC (UDP) instead of TCP. Eliminates TCP's head-of-line blocking — a lost packet in one stream doesn't stall other...
IMAP
Internet Message Access Protocol — a protocol for retrieving and managing email on a remote server. Unlike POP3, IMAP keeps messages on the server and supports...
MTU
Maximum Transmission Unit — the largest packet size (in bytes) that a network interface can transmit without fragmentation. Ethernet's standard MTU is 1500...
NAT Traversal
Techniques for establishing direct connections between devices that are behind NAT (Network Address Translation) routers. Methods include STUN (discovering...
Negotiation
The process by which two communicating parties agree on parameters for their exchange — in HTTP, content negotiation uses `Accept`, `Accept-Language`, and...
OAuth 2.0 Flow
The specific grant type used in an OAuth 2.0 authorization process. Common flows include Authorization Code (web apps), PKCE (SPAs/mobile), Client Credentials...
OSI Model
A seven-layer conceptual model for understanding network communication: Physical (1), Data Link (2), Network (3), Transport (4), Session (5), Presentation (6),...
Pong
The response message sent back after receiving a ping, used in network protocols (ICMP, WebSocket, IRC) to confirm that a connection is alive and measure...
QUIC
A transport protocol built on UDP that provides the reliability of TCP with faster connection setup, built-in encryption (TLS 1.3), and multiplexed streams...
Rendezvous
A synchronization point where two or more processes, threads, or network peers meet to exchange data or coordinate before proceeding independently.
RFC
Request for Comments — a formal document published by the IETF or used internally by engineering teams to propose, discuss, and document technical standards,...
RPC
RPC, or Remote Procedure Call, is a communication protocol that allows a program to execute a function or procedure on a remote server as if it were a local...
SMTP
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol — the standard protocol for sending email across the internet. SMTP handles outbound delivery between mail servers on port 25 (or...
SNI
Server Name Indication -- a TLS extension that lets the client specify which hostname it's connecting to during the handshake, before encryption begins....
SSH
SSH, or Secure Shell, is a cryptographic network protocol for establishing secure, encrypted connections between computers over an untrusted network. It...
TCP
TCP, or Transmission Control Protocol, is a connection-oriented transport protocol that provides reliable, ordered delivery of data between applications over...
TCP/IP
The foundational protocol suite of the internet, consisting of TCP (reliable, ordered delivery) and IP (addressing and routing). The four-layer TCP/IP model...
TLS
TLS, or Transport Layer Security, is the cryptographic protocol that secures communications over the internet, providing privacy, data integrity, and...
UDP
UDP, or User Datagram Protocol, is a connectionless transport protocol that sends packets (called datagrams) without establishing a connection or guaranteeing...
WebRTC
Web Real-Time Communication — a set of browser APIs and protocols enabling peer-to-peer audio, video, and data streaming directly between browsers without...
WebSocket
WebSocket is a communication protocol that provides full-duplex, bidirectional communication between a web browser and a server over a single, persistent TCP...

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