Start the Project
In this segment we’ll set up the initial structure of the
application. I recommend you don’t start trying to pick a framework,
listing design patterns, or drawing UML. Instead let’s start
simple. First let’s start with a hello word application, something
that compiles(if you need to compile), and runs.
Once you have this we’ll need to handle a command line argument. This will be the port our server will listen on. Making this configurable lets us test the server by listening to a port other than 80 or 443, these usually require super user permissions to bind to. By using a different port you can test your server with less friction. At first I recommend you verify the CLI argument handling by converting it to an integer and printing to the screen.
At this point if you haven’t start source control now would be a great time. Initialize the repo of your favorite SCM and add the application. At this point you’ll have enough of the build created to know what temporary or generated files come out of the language. You’ll want to mask those out early so as to keep the repository small(er).
This process of discovering how a build is structured in your language can take some time. It’s often complicated and there can be large differences between hello-world applications and real world build systems. If you intend to learn a build system it’s fine to experiment with one, however getting bogged down with the details and caveats of a build can slow down your exploration of a new language. At this stage it’s okay to use a shell script, a makefile, or even copy-paste from a notes file. It’s your project and you can do what you want! However, if you are familiar with the language you’re working in now would be a great time to learn how it’s preferred build system is configured.
Outcome
At the end of this step you should have:
- A directory for the project
- Source control for the project
- “hello world” that takes an argument from the command line
- Enough build to run the “hello world”