Why Haven’t You Upgraded to HTTP/2?

The author has benefited from various Java features over the years, including generics, streams, and lambda expressions. However, the adoption of HTTP/2 has been slower than expected, despite its release in 2015. HTTP/2 offers several improvements over HTTP/1.x, including multiplexing, header compression, server push, and resource prioritization. The protocol is backwards compatible with HTTP/1.x and has various use cases, such as full-stack applications and content-heavy websites. Upgrading to HTTP/2 is relatively easy, especially with Spring Boot 3.x, which requires Java 17+ and uses the default Jetty server. However, network infrastructure must also support HTTP/2 for the upgrade to be effective. Heroku has recently announced support for HTTP/2 at the router level, making it possible for service developers to take advantage of its features. Challenges with HTTP/2 adoption include increased compute costs, impact on response times, and potential misconfiguration of advanced features. Despite these challenges, upgrading to HTTP/2 can provide noticeable improvements in performance and supportability. The author encourages developers to prioritize upgrading to HTTP/2 in their upcoming development iterations.