Chapter SRV.7. Sessions

The hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) is by design a stateless protocol. To build effective web applications, it is imperative that a series of different requests from a particular client can be associated with each other. Many strategies for session tracking have evolved over time, but all are difficult or troublesome for the programmer to use directly.

This specification defines a simple HttpSession interface that allows a servlet container to use any number of approaches to track a user 's session without involving the developer in the nuances of any one approach.