Where does a beginner learn about the technology behind thrift and web servers?

I'd like to understand following things:

1. What is going on under the hood when thrift lets PHP "talk to" Java.

2. How Apache, Apache Tomcat etc are able to handle multiple users/ requests simultaneously.

3. Threads (in context of servers especially) and processess

4. Why Nginx might be better than Apache when one is long polling and why long polling is better than periodically polling a server

Brief answers to each question are definitely welcome but more importantl开发者_运维百科y I'd like to be pointed to a few resources (books, tutorials, names of courses etc) that give me a foundation for thinking about related issues when they arise.

1) I'd like to understand what is going on under the hood when thrift lets PHP "talk to" Java.

For specific ways on how thrift does it, you should probably read the thrift wiki.

Exchanging information between different programming languages can be done via many different methods. Recent tries to standardize these resulted in CORBA and SOAP, for example.

2) I'd like to understand how Apache, Apache Tomcat etc are able to handle multiple users/ requests simultaneously.

Again, for specific ways how Apache does it, read the apache documentation or source.

In general, learning about Operating Systems, processes, threads might get you started, together with the TCP/IP stacks and Ports.

3) I'd like to understand threads (in context of servers especially) and processess

Any decent course on Operating Systems will introduce these terms to you.

4) I'd like to understand why Nginx might be better than Apache when one is long polling and why long polling is better than periodically polling a server.

Again: specific products, specific websites.

About why (or when!) long polling is better than periodically polling: it depends on the situation. Each method has its own advantages and disadvantages.