Simple HTTP Server

A lightweight HTTP server implementation written from scratch in Python. This project demonstrates the core concepts of web servers and HTTP protocol implementation while providing a functional server that can handle both static and dynamic content.

Features

• Built from scratch using Python's socket programming
• Handles both GET and POST requests
• Serves static content (files, images, etc.)
• Dynamic routing with controller-based architecture
• JSON response support
• Configurable content types
• Error handling with appropriate HTTP status codes

Guide

I have wrote a detailed blog on this incase if you interested in making this project from scratch with understanding

Project Structure

.
├── server.py                 # Main server implementation
├── request_parser.py         # HTTP request parsing
├── response_builder.py       # HTTP response construction
├── response_dispatcher.py    # Response handling
├── static_content_provider.py # Static file serving
├── http_status.py           # HTTP status codes
├── startup.py               # Server initialization
├── controllers/             # Request handlers
├── static/                  # Static content directory
└── appsettings.json         # Server configuration

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x
• Basic understanding of HTTP protocol

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/simple-http-server.git
cd simple-http-server

2. Run the server:

python server.py

The server will start listening on 0.0.0.0:8000 by default.

Usage

The server supports:

• Static file serving from the static/ directory
• Dynamic routes through controllers
• JSON responses for API endpoints
• Basic error handling

Example Requests

Static Content

• HTML page: GET http://localhost:8000/static/home.html
• Image file: GET http://localhost:8000/static/mobile_phone.png

API Endpoints

• Get all users: GET http://localhost:8000/users
• Add a new user: POST http://localhost:8000/users

  {
    "name": "John Doe",
    "age": "25",
    "city": "New York"
  }

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! This project is open for improvements and new features. Here's how you can contribute:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
5. Open a Pull Request

Areas for Future Development

• Database integration
• Move configurable parts outside of code into a config file
• HTTPS support
• Request validation
• Authentication and authorization
• CORS support
• Rate limiting
• Documentation improvements
• Transform this project into a reusable framework and library

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Built for educational purposes to understand HTTP server implementation
• Inspired by Joao Ventura's blog