One of the confusing aspects of web applications to some is the understanding of session tracking. Session tracking is just that, tracking sessions. When a communication channel (request and response) has been established between the client (or browser) and the server, a record needs to exist tracking the conversation. HTTP is a stateless protocol, meaning it does not maintain the status of the communication string or source of the communication. For example, if you were to go online to perform Christmas shopping, and you continuously purchase items by adding it to the application’s shopping cart, the server should know which client the request is coming from and add it to the correct cart.
There are three popular methods to the stateless protocol.
1. Cookies
2. URL encoding
3. Hidden form fields
The three methods serve as a way for the server to identify individual request and track sessions.