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| author | Aki <please@ignore.pl> | 2022-01-27 20:06:51 +0100 |
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| committer | Aki <please@ignore.pl> | 2022-01-27 20:06:51 +0100 |
| commit | b543cd3735b8892cfa2a4d49798ab6aaf7b17ca9 (patch) | |
| tree | c37648d676495f1a888fc7693dde5bb14a6e8dbe /you_can_serve_static_data_over_http.html | |
| parent | 6269d0c73ed835030ed5a096d12c7165e9b067a2 (diff) | |
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Added a rant about static files
Diffstat (limited to 'you_can_serve_static_data_over_http.html')
| -rw-r--r-- | you_can_serve_static_data_over_http.html | 76 |
1 files changed, 76 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/you_can_serve_static_data_over_http.html b/you_can_serve_static_data_over_http.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..0922468 --- /dev/null +++ b/you_can_serve_static_data_over_http.html @@ -0,0 +1,76 @@ +<!doctype html> +<html lang="en"> +<meta charset="utf-8"> +<meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"> +<meta name="author" content="aki"> +<meta name="tags" content="software development, http, json, web development, static data, static files, rant"> +<link rel="icon" type="image/png" href="cylo.png"> +<link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css"> + +<title>You Can Serve Static Data Over HTTP</title> + +<nav><p><a href="https://ignore.pl">ignore.pl</a></p></nav> + +<article> +<h1>You Can Serve Static Data Over HTTP</h1> +<p class="subtitle">Published on 2022-01-27 20:00:00+01:00 +<p>This will be short. I need to let some steam off and flush this thing out of my mind because it's already hanging +around for too long. The story goes like this: we're prototyping small tool for whatever and we're at the point where +there is a visible need to store some (most likely) static data. Oh, the thing is in JavaScript by the way. +<p>"Yeah, let's just put it into a JSON file and serve it over web server." +<p>Said me naively but turns out that there is a legitimate confusion on the other side of the trench. +<p>"Do you mean a database?" +<p>Let's end the flashback here, we already have enough background for what will follow. Now, hear me out, <em>your API +endpoint is just pretending to be a file.</em> +<p>You don't need a full blown web application back-end. You don't need an over-featured database engine that can +provide its own REST API endpoints with data. And you don't need a complex ORM library and couple your data model to it +and write your own endpoints. You don't need any of these and possibly others. +<p>You <em>may</em> need them, but never let your habits decide your designs. +<p>It's not illegal to use static files and it does work. Moreover, with a limited set of data it gives huge freedom to +developer to try out things and break them. It's suited for rapid prototyping but it also has its own place in +production environment (e.g., git).</p> +<img src="you_can_serve_static_data_over_http-1.png" alt="free junk"> +<h2>Is it possible to learn this power?</h2> +<p>Not from a modern developer. You need to jump down the rabbit hole of the history of solid and proven solutions. +<p>First off, create some files. In my example we needed some static data for JavaScript, so we used JSON: +<pre> +[ + {"type": 1, "name": "a"}, + {"type": 1, "name": "b"} +] +</pre> +<p>Now, save it as a file called <code>things</code> without any extension at all. Something like this will do: +<pre> +$ pwd +/home/ignore/public + +$ ls +things +</pre> +<p>It's ready to be served to the client. Start up your favourite server that can handle static data and position it at +the directory that you've selected: +<pre> +$ python3 -m http.server +Serving HTTP on 0.0.0.0 port 8000 (http://0.0.0.0:8000/) ... +</pre> +<p>It can now be accessed at <code>http://localhost:8000/things</code>. If you are working with JS as I did that time, +shift the <code>public</code> content a bit to also serve the client application: +<pre> +$ ls . api +.: +index.html style.css main.js api/ + +api: +things +</pre> +<p>Dead simple, right? Now you know. Hey, you can even mock more complex APIs with a help of symlinks and creativity. +And if you worry about whether it works - just try it out. If it has some problems - force the server to set correct +mime type for files without extensions. +<p>Hopefully, next post will be more interesting, but this had to be done. Just had to. I may rest now. +<!-- +Don't worry or go "ha ha, this guy got triggered by such thing" - you've been bamboozled. It's all have been an act. +Without it the whole post would be not only basic but also boring. One thing remains true: for some reason the idea of +this post was following me for quite a while now and I just wanted to get rid off it. +--> +</article> +<script src="https://stats.ignore.pl/track.js"></script> |