CSCE 590: Problem Set 1

For this problem set you will build a simple web-based application from scratch. You will do it in stages:

1. (30%) First you will implement a simple web-server that understand the GET command as well as cookies. Unlike a regular webserver, yours will not fetch files from the file system, instead you will simply return the same message as long as the client does not request /cookies. You will also set a different cookie for each client connection, following the cookie specification. If the client does ask for /cookies you will then return the list of cookies you have set for that client. You should be able to test your server with any web browser that supports cookies.
2. (40%) You will now implement a basic "conference reviewer" application. You will give your server a set of five fixed documents which can be accessed by /getdoc/<docnumber>, where docnumber is the number of the requested document. What these documents contain is not important, just make sure that they are in HTML and contain their docnumber.

   Whenever a client asks for a particular document, your sever will remember that. Then, whenever a client asks for /status, you will return an HTML page that lists all the documents and tells the client which one he has and has not read. Your server should be able to perform this task for several "simultaneous" clients. You should test this with two or three clients each running on a separate machines, or with different browsers on the same machine.

   Finally, when anyone asks for /state you will return a list of all the past client connections and the set of documents each one of them has read.

3. (30%) The final step is to turn your server into a client for other servers. For this you will implement two new functions. /addhost/<hostname>:<port> tells your server to remember that there is another server running at hostname:port. Using this information, when a client requests /netstate you will dynamically query all those other servers for their /state, and return all that information, along with your own state information, to the client.

Handing it in: As will all the problem sets, you will hand them in using our department's dropbox, at this link. You will hand in all your javadoc-commented java files. You will be graded on your (lack of) documentation. You will also include a README file that gives step-by-step instructions on how to run your program. Remember that the harder you make it for us to run your program, the more annoyed we will be when grading it. You must use the sample README.txt as your template. Failure to follow any of these rules will result in a 50% penalty.