1.2 An Example

Programming with httpy means writing responders. To whet your whistle, here is httpy's hello world:

>>> from httpy import Response
>>> class Responder:
...   def respond(self, request):
...     raise Response(200, "Greetings, program!")
...
>>>

A responder is simply a module or class with a respond callable, which takes a Request object and raises a Response object. Besides being a subclass of StandardError, Response is bone simple: its constructor takes an integer HTTP code, a body, and a dictionary of headers - all optional. At the end of the transaction, this response is raised back up the stack towards the client.

Your responder will generally raise Responses from more than one place. For example, you could add a check on the incoming method:

>>> class Responder:
...   def respond(self, request):
...     if request.method != 'GET':
...       raise Response(501)
...     raise Response(200, "Greetings, program!")
...
>>>

In any case, after defining a responder, here is how to put it on the network:

>>> from httpy import couplers
>>> coupler = couplers.StandAlone(Responder())
>>> coupler.go()
httpy.server     INFO     httpy started on port 8080

At this point, your program is blocking, waiting for requests on http://localhost:8080/. Visit it there, and you will see the text Greetings, program! in your browser, and log output in your console. Congratulations!