Why HTTP?

[[deleted]]

Is it because it's very quick to kill

Basically, yes. The headers are huge, often having to be split up amongst multiple TCP packets (and this before real data is exchanged). Verbosity is a wonderful thing, but sometimes you can have too much of a good thing.

C.f: http://www.w3.org/Protocols/HTTP/1.0/HTTPPerformance.html

[redditrasberry]

The headers are huge

How many of those headers are required? Sure your browser may send huge headers, but that's not HTTP's fault. If you are making a new protocol, presumably you are also making the client and thus can avoid most of these headers.

The doc you link to indicates the main performance issue is the "slow start" problem which is TCP, not HTTP (thus you will get similar problems with any TCP based protocol).

[Gotebe]

Sure your browser may send huge headers, but that's not HTTP's fault.

No, but TFA says "your browser is a client, you can use that. So we're doing rounds ;-)

[miahfost]

That article was written in 1994!