Welcome to the Basic Usage tutorial! This guide will walk you through the essentials of setting up and operating an HTTP server.

🧩 What is an HTTP Server?

An HTTP server is a software that processes requests from clients (like web browsers) and delivers web pages or other content. It uses the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to communicate.

🔧 Key Components

  • Request Line: Contains the method (e.g., GET, POST), URL, and HTTP version.
  • Headers: Provide metadata about the request (e.g., User-Agent, Content-Type).
  • Body: Optional data sent with the request (e.g., form data).

🚀 Quick Start Guide

  1. Install Server Software
    Use tools like Node.js or Python's http.server to get started.

  2. Configure Server

    • Define the root directory for serving files.
    • Set up port and host configurations.
    • Example: 
      python -m http.server 8000

  3. Handle Requests

    • GET requests retrieve data (e.g., /index.html).
    • POST requests send data (e.g., form submissions).

  4. Respond to Clients

    • Return HTTP status codes (e.g., 200 OK, 404 Not Found).
    • Send content in the response body.

📌 Example: Serving a File

GET /example.txt HTTP/1.1  
Host: localhost:8000  

HTTP/1.1 200 OK  
Content-Type: text/plain  
Content-Length: 123  

This is the content of example.txt.

🌐 Further Reading

For advanced topics, check out our HTTP Methods Guide.

HTTP_Server_Architecture

Let me know if you need help with specific configurations or use cases! 😊