Description
[This is a template for Go's change proposal process, documented here.]
Proposal: New Constants for MIME types in net/http pkg
Author(s): Salamandastron1
Last updated: 10/5/2021
Abstract
The idea is to include these common MIME type values as constants in the net/http pkg. These values are an incredibly important part of the HTTP contract between client and server and leave a lot of room for mistakes while typing them. For ease of programming and reduced error, I believe they should be included as constants.
Background
Not much to say, Mime type values, such as JSON, HTML, Plain text, etc are common and unlikely to change. However, having to type out these values whenever needed is cumbersome and better handled as immutable values in the net/http pkg
Proposal
I propose that the various "Content-Type" options (including the key of "Content-Type") be included as constants in the net/http package. e.g.
const (
contentHTML = "text/html; charset=UTF-8"
contentPlain = "text/plain; charset=UTF-8"
contentOctet = "application/octet-stream"
...
)Rationale
The proposed change would result in ease of programming and reduced errors, for beginners and veterans alike. We are beyond the point of needing to type out these regulated values.
Trade-Offs:
- Advantages
- reduced errors
- ease of programming
- Disadvantages
- net/http package would increase in size
- while unlikely, changes to any of the aforementioned specifications and beyond could create toil by the need to update the constant values
Compatibility
There should be no change in compatibility
Implementation
Adding the constants into the already existing list on net/http
These changes could be deployed with any upcoming release. There are no security, reliability, or backward compatibility concerns.
Open issues (if applicable)
n/a