MiniHTTP Server

A lightweight HTTP server built from scratch in Go using the net package. It handles basic routing, dynamic paths, query parameters, and concurrent request handling using goroutines.

Features

• Routing: Matches HTTP requests to handlers based on URL patterns.
• Dynamic Paths: Captures path segments (e.g., /user/:name extracts name).
• Query Parameters: Parses query strings (e.g., /search?q=foo).
• POST Body Handling: Processes request bodies up to 64 KiB.
• Custom Headers: Supports adding headers like X-Foo: bar.
• HTTP/1.1 Keep-Alive: Handles persistent connections for multiple requests.
• Concurrent Connections: Uses goroutines for efficient request handling.

How It Uses the net Package

MiniHTTP leverages Go’s net package to manage TCP connections at a low level:

1. TCP Listener:

   • net.Listen("tcp", ":PORT") creates a TCP listener on a specific port to accept incoming connections.

2. Connection Handling:

   • Listener.Accept() retrieves incoming TCP connections (net.Conn), with each connection handled in a separate goroutine.
   • Each connection is processed in handleConnection, which reads requests and writes responses.

3. Reading Requests:

   • A bufio.Reader on net.Conn reads raw HTTP request data (method, path, headers, body).
   • ReadRequest parses the TCP stream into a Request struct, handling query params and body (up to 64 KiB).

4. Writing Responses:

   • The simpleResponseWriter uses net.Conn.Write to send HTTP responses (status, headers, body).
   • Responses are formatted (e.g., HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\n) and written to the TCP connection.

5. Keep-Alive Support:

   • Supports HTTP/1.1 persistent connections by checking the Connection header, looping to handle multiple requests unless closed or HTTP/1.0 is used.

Usage

1. Run:

   go run main.go

   Server starts on :8080.

2. Test Endpoints:

   • curl http://localhost:8080/ → Hello server
   • curl http://localhost:8080/user/Alice → Hello, Alice
   • curl http://localhost:8080/search?q=foo → Search for: foo
   • curl -X POST -d "test" http://localhost:8080/submit → Received: test