Explain the difference between cookies, session and local storage

In web development, understanding the differences between cookies, session storage, and local storage is crucial for managing data storage and retrieval effectively. Each of these storage types serves different purposes and has unique characteristics.

Cookies

Cookies are small pieces of data (up to 4KB) that are stored on the client's browser. They are primarily used to manage sessions and track user behavior across multiple requests and sessions. Cookies can be set by the server using the Set-Cookie HTTP header or by JavaScript via document.cookie. They are automatically sent to the server with every request, which can be useful for maintaining session state or handling user authentication.

Cookies have attributes such as expiration dates, paths, and domains which control their availability and lifetime. They can be configured as either session cookies, which expire when the browser is closed, or persistent cookies, which remain until their expiration date is reached or they are manually deleted[1][5].

Local Storage

Local storage provides a way to store data locally within the user's browser, and the data persists even after the browser window is closed. It allows for storing up to 5MB or 10MB of data depending on the browser. Unlike cookies, local storage data is not sent to the server with every browser request, which can improve performance for applications that require large amounts of data to be stored on the client side.

Local storage is accessed via the localStorage object in JavaScript, and it provides methods like setItem, getItem, and removeItem for managing data. It is ideal for storing relatively large amounts of data that are specific to the client and do not need to be transmitted frequently to the server[1][3].

Session Storage

Session storage is similar to local storage in terms of its API and capacity, but it differs in scope and lifetime. Data stored in session storag...