HTTP Server From Scratch in Go

A minimalist HTTP/1.1 web server built from scratch in Go, using only the standard library. This project is a deep dive into the fundamentals of network programming and the HTTP protocol.

Overview

This project implements a fully concurrent, static file web server. It is built without any external frameworks or libraries to demonstrate a foundational understanding of how web servers operate at a low level. The server is capable of parsing raw HTTP requests, routing based on URL paths, handling multiple connections simultaneously, and serving HTML content from the local filesystem.

Key Features

• Built From Scratch: Uses only Go's standard net and os packages. No external dependencies.
• Concurrent Architecture: Leverages Go's powerful concurrency model, using a separate goroutine for each client connection to handle thousands of simultaneous requests efficiently.
• HTTP/1.1 Request Parsing: Manually parses the request line to extract the HTTP method, path, and version.
• Static File Serving: Reads and serves HTML files from a /static directory on the local filesystem.
• Basic Routing: Implements a simple router to serve different content based on the requested path (/, /about, etc.) and returns a custom 404 page for unknown routes.
• JSON API Endpoint: Includes a simple API at /api/time that returns the current server time in JSON format.
• Clean Code Structure: The project is organized following Go's best practices, with a clear separation between the application's entry point (/cmd) and its core logic (/internal).

Core Concepts Explored

This project was a practical exercise in understanding:

• TCP Sockets: The fundamentals of net.Listen, listener.Accept, and managing net.Conn objects.
• HTTP Protocol: The structure of requests and responses, including status lines, headers (Content-Type, Content-Length), and the importance of CRLF (\r\n).
• Concurrency in Go: The practical application of goroutines to solve the challenge of handling multiple clients without blocking.
• I/O Operations: Reading from network connections and local files using buffers ([]byte).
• API Development: Understanding how to serve dynamic data as JSON and setting the correct application/json content type.
• Code Refactoring: The importance of breaking down complex functions into smaller, single-responsibility components for better readability and maintenance.

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Go (version 1.18 or higher)

Installation & Running

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Oblutack/HTTP-Server.git

2. Navigate to the project directory:

   cd HTTP-Server

3. Run the server:

   go run ./cmd/webserver/main.go

4. The server will start listening on localhost:8080. You can access it from your browser or using curl:

   # Access the home page
   curl http://localhost:8080/
   
   # Access the about page
   curl http://localhost:8080/about
   
   # Access the time API
   curl http://localhost:8080/api/time