What are HTTP methods and statuses for?
Answer out loud or in your head first, then compare.
Answer
The method describes the request's intent. GET is for reading, POST often creates a resource or starts an operation, PUT replaces the given representation, PATCH applies a change, and DELETE removes. A correct server shouldn't make purchases or delete data on a plain GET.
The status describes the outcome: 200 means success, 201 created, 202 work accepted to be done later. 401 usually means missing valid authentication, 403 missing permissions, 404 no accessible resource, and 500 a server error. Status meanings and error bodies should be consistent across the API.
Why it matters: Useful in live coding and when designing long-running AI tasks.
Possible follow-ups: Why doesn't accepting a job into a queue mean it's finished yet?
How did it go? Be honest — “Not yet” puts the question on your review list.
Related questions
- REST: GET, POST, PUT, PATCH and idempotency — General Web
Further reading
- MDN: Overview of HTTP(opens in a new tab)Accessed 22.10.2026. Requests, responses and connection reuse.
- AWS: What is RESTful API?(opens in a new tab)Accessed 22.10.2026. Resources, operations and REST principles.