Hey,
I was wondering if someone could help me understand the key relevant factors in the speed of accessing your email inbox (in my case Gmail) via IMAP.
What really happens when the command mail -f imaps://
imap.gmail.com is executed and the user logs in?
IMAP is a protocol, so what does that mean for how the key information - the login info - is sent over the internet? Is there some fundamental difference between IMAP and HTTP, for example? Ultimately, the info is transmitted as bits, but on a higher level, is IMAP a certain language, for example?
The contents of the email inbox are sent back, but in what format? Does the IMAP protocol take a certain raw format and build it into an email inbox interface?
Most importantly, how can we optimize the speed of this process? What are the most important factors - internet speed, CPU of computer, RAM, or something to do with networking - and why?
Thanks very much,
Julius