HTTP/2 is a binary protocol, whereas HTTP versions before that are plain text protocols. The change to a binary protocol was made to make parsing more efficient. Binary protocols are designed solely for computers to read and write, while plain text protocols are readable and writable by humans. The switch of HTTP to a binary protocol makes sense, because the speed of websites is incredibly important when billions of them are loaded every day.

Binary protocols are also boring. If you’ve never used telnet(1) or netcat(1) to connect to an IRC server, you should give it a try. It’s easy:

$ nc irc.server.name 6667

# Tell the server who you are
nick test132
user test132 0 * :Test132
#< A whole bunch of information, the MOTD, etc.

# Join a channel
join #test
#< topic, users

# Every once in a while, you receive a PING
#< PING :server.host.name
pong

# Chat in a channel:
privmsg #test This is a test

# Leave a channel:
part #test

# When you're done, quit
quit

Using an IRC client is usually easier, but it’s not required. Even on a computer without an IRC client you can use IRC. It also makes the protocol easier to work with; want to implement IRC in your program but having some trouble? Just connect manually and experiment!

Besides human-readable protocols, plain text over sockets offers more. MUDs are text-based games you can play by similarly connecting to a server over the network using telnet. Many of those games have been online for many years (these are just four examples).

When you connect to a MUD, you connect to a vast world you can explore filled with adventures and people to talk to. What can be put into a MUD is really only limited to what can be described in text. You’re going to be reading a lot, so it’s not for everyone, but the shear amount of detail will blow you away. (At least it did to me.) Thousands of “rooms” with detailed descriptions, hundreds of different items, enemies, landscapes. All you need to fill hours of your time is your imagination and a small program invented in the 60’s.

If you want more than your little terminal can offer you, there are MUD clients that can offer you more. Most of them support some sort of scripting to automate certain tasks for you, some of them support automatic mapping. (Some MUDs, like Medievia, also offer integrated maps).

It may not always be the most efficient way to build a protocol, so it may not always be the best choice, but there’s also value in simplicity. Plain text is flexible and allows for easy experimentation, so if you’re building something it might just be a good choice.

   `.rL              `             Alter Aeon            '               oo,
  /mdo-/-+          `/                                   \'           `.+/yms`
 .mMNy+/::+`        `s.                                  +\         `.+:/smMN+
 :NMh.  `-/o:        /s                                  s:       `+o/"` `+NMh
 -NMs      `:`       `s+    `.                    .'    /+        :-      -mMy
  hMm-                 +s.  'o                    o`   +/                 oNN:
  -dMh-                 ``   s.                  .s   ''                `/mNo
   .yNm+.       .:+s+.       ++.                .++       :oo:.       `-sNN+
    '+dNmyo+++ooyhyo-                                     `/yhyo+///+ohmNh-
      `\ymNNNmNNmds:`             `.         .'            .+hdmmmmNNNms:`
         ':oyhdmds/`               +:       :+              -odNNmdyo:`
              ````        \"'+.    ``       ''    .+'"/      ``````
                           ",0_\                 /_0,"

(Alter Aeon’s connection banner, telnet alteraeon.com 3000.)

Found a problem? Have a question? Shoot me an email.