ts-tcp-httpserver

What is this

This is an extremely simple HTTP/1.1 server written in TypeScript using node:net to open a TCP socket to listen for and respond to HTTP requests.

Goals

• Receive and respond to HTTP requests purely by reading and writing data to and from a TCP socket.
• With the above, support transmission of non-text formats (e.g. images, binaries, etc.)
• Use tests on a finished codebase to effectively test whether code behaviour stays consistent with feature changes.
• Implement 'quality of life' features such as index pages at the root and in directories.
• Code in a mostly functional+procedural style, avoiding nesting, and emphasising readable code.

What I've learned

• More about how HTTP/1.1 works as a standard in practical terms.
• Expanded knowledge of how to work with sockets as well as how they work.
• Expanded knowledge of buffers in nodejs, how they work and how to work with them.
• Using hexdump to diagnose problems in data transmission by examining data before and after being transmitted.

Running

• yarn dev will run tsc in watch mode concurrently with nodemon to restart the server when changes are made.
• yarn build will run tsc to compile to the build/ directory.
• yarn start will run tsc to compile to the build/ directory and immediately run the built server.