Cookie
A tiny piece of data sent from a website and stored directly in the user's web browser, used primarily to remember stateful information or track browsing activity.
What it is
Cookies are the physical mechanism browsers use to remember things between requests. They are frequently used to store the unique Session IDs that keep users logged in, remember site preferences (like dark mode), or track user behavior across different websites for targeted advertising and analytics.
When you would use it
You utilize secure, HTTP-only cookies in web development to safely store sensitive authentication state on the client's machine.
Common operations
- Securely storing authentication tokens to keep a user logged into a SaaS dashboard.
- Tracking anonymous user behavior for website performance analytics.
Related terms
Where this is taught
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