What is a request-response pair called?

Greg Beech picture Greg Beech · Jun 24, 2009 · Viewed 10.8k times · Source

For example in HTTP you send a request and receive a response; is there a noun that describes that request-response pair?

I'd thought of "dialog" or "conversation" however those imply multiple request-response pairs, whereas I'm looking for a word that indicates exactly one.

The reason for asking is that I need to name an object which encapsulates the details of both, and RequestResponse seems fairly lame.

Answer

Cœur picture Cœur · May 27, 2014
  • RFC2616 calls it an Exchange.
  • Wireshark and HTTPNetworkSniffer call it a Request/Response.
  • Fiddler calls it a Session.
  • Charles calls it a Sequence.
  • HTTP Scoop calls it a Conversation.
  • Other vocabulary includes: Message, Transaction, Communication.

I would go for Exchange or RequestResponse.

I also went to name it Operation in my code as I would queue Operations, flush Operations, pause or resume Operations.