Basic HTTP Server

A simple HTTP server built from scratch using TCP primitives. This project demonstrates how to build a basic HTTP server step by step in an iterative way.

Project Structure

• src/main/java/org/example/server/ - Server implementation
  • HttpServer.java - Main server class that listens for connections
  • RequestHandler.java - Interface for handling HTTP requests
  • HttpRequest.java - Class representing an HTTP request
  • HttpResponse.java - Class representing an HTTP response
  • SimpleRequestHandler.java - A simple implementation of RequestHandler
• src/main/java/org/example/App.java - Main application class
• src/test/java/org/example/server/HttpServerTest.java - Tests for the server

Development Loop

This project is set up for a solid development loop with the following features:

Building the Project

mvn clean compile

Running Tests

mvn test

Running the Application

mvn exec:java

Or with a custom port:

mvn exec:java -Dexec.args="8081"

Building an Executable JAR

mvn package

This will create an executable JAR file in the target directory that includes all dependencies.

Running the JAR

java -jar target/basic-http-server-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar

Or with a custom port:

java -jar target/basic-http-server-1.0-SNAPSHOT.jar 8081

Development Workflow

1. Make changes to the code
2. Run tests to verify your changes: mvn test
3. Run the application to see it in action: mvn exec:java
4. Access the server in your browser at http://localhost:8080
5. Repeat

Next Steps

Here are some ideas for extending the server:

1. Add support for different HTTP methods (PUT, DELETE, etc.)
2. Implement routing to handle different paths
3. Add support for serving static files
4. Implement HTTP status codes for different scenarios
5. Add support for cookies and sessions
6. Implement middleware for request processing
7. Add support for JSON responses
8. Implement a simple template engine for HTML responses

Logging

The application uses SLF4J with Logback for logging. The log configuration is in src/main/resources/logback.xml.

• Console logs show basic information
• File logs are stored in the logs directory
• The default log level is INFO, with DEBUG level for the application code

Contributing

Feel free to fork this project and submit pull requests with improvements or bug fixes.