qinguoyi/tinywebserver

TinyWebServer is a lightweight web server written in C++ for Linux, designed as a learning resource for beginners getting started with network programming. It solves the problem of understanding how a real web server works under the hood, something textbooks explain in theory but rarely show in practice. The server handles HTTP GET and POST requests using a state machine parser to decode incoming messages. To serve many users at once without slowing down, it uses a thread pool (a group of pre-created worker threads) combined with non-blocking sockets and epoll, a Linux feature that efficiently monitors thousands of simultaneous connections. It supports both Reactor and Proactor concurrency patterns, which are different strategies for deciding who does the I/O work. User registration and login are backed by a MySQL database, and the server can also serve image and video files. A built-in logging system records server activity in either synchronous or asynchronous mode. Under stress testing with a tool called Webbench, it handled over 10,000 concurrent connections. You would use this project if you are a C++ student or junior developer who wants a concrete, runnable example of how servers manage connections, thread pools, timers for idle connections, and database-backed authentication, all in one place. The tech stack is C++ (with a C++11 variant available), Linux, MySQL, and epoll.