HTTP Server: Building from the TCP/IP Foundation

This project is a minimalist, educational HTTP server built directly on Python's native socket library.

The primary goal is to gain a deep, practical understanding of fundamental computer networking concepts, specifically how the Application Layer (HTTP) interacts with the Transport Layer (TCP), without relying on high-level frameworks like Flask or Django.

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Educational Focus and Key Concepts

This project serves as a hands-on exercise to master the following core concepts:

• TCP Socket Programming: Implementation of the standard Client-Server communication model using socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM).
  • Demonstrates the workflow: bind() -> listen() -> accept().
• Request/Response Cycle: Manually handling the complete HTTP/1.1 transaction flow:
  1. Receiving and parsing the raw byte stream from the client (client_socket.recv()).
  2. Extracting the HTTP Method and Request Path.
  3. Manually constructing a compliant HTTP Response (Status Line, Headers, and Body).
  4. Transmitting the response using client_socket.sendall().
• Protocol Compliance: Understanding and adhering to the necessary formatting for an HTTP response, including the use of \r\n line endings and the critical role of the Content-Length header.

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Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x
• Ensure an index.html file exists in the root directory for the server to serve.

Running the Server

1. Clone this repository or navigate to the project directory.
2. Start the server from your terminal:

   python main.py

3. Access the server in your browser:

   http://localhost:8080
   

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Future Learning/Improvements

• Implement basic multi-threading or non-blocking I/O to handle multiple concurrent client connections.
• Add logic to serve common static file types (e.g., .css, .js, .png) based on the requested file path.
• Introduce robust error handling for broken pipes and malformed requests.