SPACEJUMP

March 31, 2013

A Hacker School facilitator recommended Michal Zalewski’s The Twisted Web to me, and I’ve really been enjoying it. I’d say it’s the most entertaining highly technical book I’ve ever read, and it is densely packed with great information about how the Web works.

However, I was reading it this afternoon and was distracted from its more substantial content by an offhand comment about the HTTP SPACEJUMP method. I was offline right then (thanks, laundromat with crappy cell reception) and couldn’t look up its actual use, but it seemed like a charming Easter egg in the HTTP protocol.

Sadly, SPACEJUMP has nothing to do with astronauts as I was imagining. It was intended for something like an image map.

I’m a little disappointed. HTTP response code 418 (I’m a teapot) will have to remain my favorite bit of web protocol silliness.