Simple Multithreaded TCP Server in C (Windows)

Overview

This project is a basic multithreaded TCP server written in C using the Winsock library. The server listens for incoming connections on port 8080 and sends a simple HTTP response. It demonstrates socket programming, multithreading, and basic HTTP handling in Windows.

Features

✅ Socket Initialization: Uses Winsock (WSAStartup()) to create a TCP socket.
✅ Binding & Listening: Binds to localhost:8080 and listens for incoming connections.
✅ Multithreading: Uses CreateThread() to handle multiple clients concurrently.
✅ Basic HTTP Handling: Sends a simple Hello, world! response.
✅ Graceful Cleanup: Uses closesocket() and WSACleanup().

How to Build & Run

Prerequisites

• Windows OS
• MinGW or MSVC (for compiling C code)
• Git (optional, for version control)

Steps

1. Clone the Repository

   git clone <your-repo-url>
   cd <your-repo-folder>

2. Compile the Code

   • Using MinGW:

     gcc src/server.c -o bin/server.exe -lws2_32

   • Using MSVC:

     cl src/server.c /link ws2_32.lib

3. Run the Server

   bin/server.exe

4. Test the Server

   • Open a browser and visit: http://127.0.0.1:8080
   • Or use cURL in a terminal:

     curl -v http://localhost:8080

   • You should see:

     Hello, world!

How It Works

1. Initialize Winsock (WSAStartup())
2. Create a TCP socket (socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0))
3. Configure socket options (setsockopt())
4. Bind the socket (bind()) to localhost:8080
5. Listen for incoming connections (listen())
6. Accept client connections (accept())
7. Create a new thread for each client using CreateThread()
8. Handle the client request (introduce a delay to test multithreading)
9. Send a response (send()) and close the connection
10. Cleanup (closesocket(), WSACleanup())

Testing Multithreading

To verify multithreading, send multiple requests in quick succession:

curl -v http://localhost:8080 &
curl -v http://localhost:8080 &

If working correctly, multiple requests will be processed simultaneously.

Next Steps 🚀

🔹 Improve HTTP Parsing: Extract method, headers, and request body.
🔹 Serve Static Files: Handle .html, .css, .js, and images.
🔹 Support HTTP Methods: Implement GET (serve files) and POST (read body).
🔹 Thread Pool & Demultiplexing: Optimize performance for concurrent requests.

Contribution

If you’d like to contribute:

1. ** check out the project roadmap on my notion page https://www.notion.so/HTTP-Server-Project-19d9ebfa16f8809eb893c548ff83956c?pvs=4 or simple read roadmap.md**
2. Fork the repo
3. Create a new branch
4. Submit a pull request