Exploring HTTP/2 advantages and performance analysis using Java 9

As websites have become bulkier and serve more larger files to end users, it has become harder for the HTTP/1.1 protocol to provide adequately short page load times. The HTTP protocol, in its previous versions, is a generic stateless application protocol most often used for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. The newest version, HTTP/2, introduced an updated protocol feature set based on Google's SPDY/2 protocol, aimed at improving the speed at which modern web resources load, reducing network congestion and additionally enforcing security standards. With header compression, new server push responses, and fully multiplexed connections, HTTP/2 solves the major issues previous versions were unable to overcome. This paper presents performance analysis results comparing both protocol versions in the upcoming release of Java 9 programming language, as well as describes key differences in development between versions. Analysis was run on the open source Jetty web server and benchmark code was compiled using JDK 9 Early Access. This paper shows benchmark results using different scenarios and typical usage performance gains. It outlines the major improvements and recommendations switching to the newer protocol version provides, specifically in general use object-oriented programming languages such as the new version of Java language.