HTTP methods, request, and response codes

The following table shows the common HTTP methods and their purposes:

Method name	Purpose
DELETE	This is used to delete a resource
GET	This is used to request a specific representation of a resource
HEAD	This is same as GET, but it retrieves only the headers and not the body
OPTIONS	This is used to retrieve the methods supported by the resource
POST	This is used to post or submit data to be processed by the resource
PUT	This is used to create or update data using a particular representation of a resource

The following table shows the HTTP status codes and their purposes:

Status code	Description
100	Informational
200	Successful
201	Created
202	Accepted
300	Redirection
304	Not modified
400	Client error
402	Payment required
404	Not found
405	Method not allowed
500	Server error
501	Not implemented

The following table shows the HTTP redirection status codes:

Status code	Description
300	Multiple choices
301	Moved permanently
302	Found (temporary redirection)

The following table shows the HTTP error status codes:

Status code	Description
400	Bad request
401	Unauthorized
403	Forbidden
404	Resource not found
405	Method not allowed
408	Request timeout
409	Conflict
413	Request entity too large
415	Unsupported media type

The following table shows the HTTP server error status codes:

Status code	Description
500	Internal server error
501	Not implemented
503	Service unavailable
505	HTTP version not supported

The following table lists some resource methods and how they can be implemented using the HTTP protocol:

Method name	Description	HTTP operation
createResource	This creates a new resource	PUT
getResourceRepresentation	This is used to retrieve the representation of a particular resource	GET
deleteResource	This deletes a resource	DELETE
modifyResource	This modifies a resource	POST
getMetaInformation	This retrieves metadata of a resource	HEAD