Building a Simple HTTP Server with Node.js

Creating a basic HTTP server is often the first step in learning Node.js backend development. Let’s explore how to build one from scratch.

What is an HTTP Server?

Before diving in, think of an HTTP server as a waiter at a restaurant. When customers (clients) make requests, the waiter (server) processes them and returns with the appropriate response. In web development, these requests could be for web pages, data, or other resources.

Setting Up Your First Server

First, create a new directory for your project and initialize it with npm:

mkdir simple-http-server
cd simple-http-server
npm init -y

Now, let’s write our server code. Create a file named server.js:

const http = require('http');

const server = http.createServer((req, res) => {
    res.writeHead(200, {'Content-Type': 'text/plain'});
    res.end('Hello, World!');
});

const PORT = 3000;
server.listen(PORT, () => {
    console.log(`Server running at http://localhost:${PORT}/`);
});

Understanding the Code

Let’s break down what’s happening:

1. We import Node’s built-in http module
2. Create a server instance using createServer()
3. Define how to handle incoming requests
4. Specify which port to listen on

Running Your Server

To start the server, run:

node server.js

Visit http://localhost:3000 in your browser to see your server in action!

Next Steps

You can expand this basic server by:

• Adding different routes
• Serving HTML files
• Handling POST requests
• Implementing error handling

Remember, this is just the beginning of what you can build with Node.js!