Let’s Build a Web Server, Part 3

http://ruslanspivak.com/lsbaws-part3/

by mycodebreaks • 11 years ago

122 10 11 years ago

ruslanspivak.com

mrits• 11 years ago

Great job

sanjeetsuhag• 11 years ago

I have really learnt a lot from this and the 'Let's Build an Interpreter' series. They're all very well done.

az0xff• 11 years ago

Incredibly well written and I definitely didn't expect to learn so much.

falcolas• 11 years ago

This is actually something that breaks my heart a bit, because this might not work (or be heavily deprecated) at some point in the near future.

If, or when, HTTP/2 is the only protocol available suddenly you can't just return a string with a few newlines and have it mean something. Instead, you have to send a connection preface, then start building and sending frames of data in specific orders with specific binary packing formats.

Length, 24 bits. Type, 8. Flags, 8, an ignored reserved bit, an identifier which must be odd (except when it must be even), padding lengths, and finally a payload (don't forget that padding!)

I know there's value in moving to HTTP/2, but it's yet another stumbling block in the path to understanding how our environments work. The straw hasn't fractured the camel's back yet, but I imagine the camel is wishing it would all just end.

Maybe this tutorial just needs a part 4, how to respond properly to HTTP/2 requests.

danso• 11 years ago

This is criminally under-upvoted...one of the best tutorials I've read in a long time.

odonnellryan• 11 years ago

Agreed! Awesome post.

jlees• 11 years ago

I used Part 1 of this tutorial as the basis for a lecture in a full stack web development class. Fantastic resource, and while my students praised the content for helping them figure the "why" as well as the "how", the praise really belongs to Ruslan.

rspivak• 11 years ago

Thank you for the kind words.

Obi_Juan_Kenobi• 11 years ago

This is fantastic; I'm just learning about TCP/IP and websockets and find the whole subject very difficult to get through. There's a lot of magic-looking numbers and weird standards that don't make sense without context. I'd find myself spending a lot of time hunting things down, which while effective, is difficult to do while maintaining focus.

There's so much wonderful context and 'why' to this series; it's honestly a bit of a revelation. Even if I don't care to learn about e.g. UNIX details, that little peak behind the scenes at the right time really helps create a coherent mental model.

mgachka• 11 years ago

A good and well written article with pictures. I hope I could read more articles like this one.

Let’s Build a Web Server, Part 3

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