This is a result of trying to make HTTP "do everything well", right? Instead of leaving it to each application to select a layering of successive protocols tailored to it's needs, everything has been jammed into the HTTP spec, which has the nice property of giving you all its features in web browser clients (which is the delivery mechanism for this wide array of apps).
Certainly some applications need not have access to the entire HTTP suite. If the goal is not to offer a "full-featured" client then an HTTP client may not be terribly difficult, it can just fail gracefully if the other party tries to do something it doesn't support?
Certainly some applications need not have access to the entire HTTP suite. If the goal is not to offer a "full-featured" client then an HTTP client may not be terribly difficult, it can just fail gracefully if the other party tries to do something it doesn't support?