Cookies
A cookie is a Http header that consists of a text only string that gets entered into the memory of a browser. This string contains the domain, path, lifetime, and value of a variable that a website sets.
Where did the term cookies come from?
"According to Paul Bonner, a cookie is a well known computer science term that is used when describing an opaque piece of data held by an intermediary."[1]
Why sites use cookies
Sites use cookies for many different reasons. "These range from the ability to personalize information, or to help with online sales/services (like on Amazon Books or Microsoft), or simply for the purposes of tracking popular links or demographics (like DoubleClick)."[1] Cookies also provide programmers with a quick and convenient means of keeping site content fresh and relevant to the user's interests. The newer servers use cookies to help with backend interaction, which improves the utility of a site by being able to securely store any personal data that the user has shared with a site.[1]
Cookies were originally designed to benefit the user. For example, "online organizations like the New York Times which require user ID and passwords could store this information in the form of a cookie. This way, repeat visitors to a site could avoid having to fill out form information on each visit." Cookies were also originally intended to be a time-saving device for computer users. For example, "instead of having to send a credit card number over the internet multiple times, an online vendor could read the user's cookie and match it to a stored profile which would contain that information."[1]
www.cookiecentral.com/faq/#1.1
www.cookiecentral.com/content.phtml?area=2&id=2
Mickileta
Smith
Mccnm 336
April 12, 2002