Doh! The original link to the code was for the wrong file! Sorry. Corrected below.

Okay so there has been a craze for writing static webservers in new languages in less than 100 lines recently and I am not claiming that this code is anything special but I wanted to give to give the NetBeans Scala plugin a go (in NetBeans 6.5) so here’s my version of a Scala static webserver (in less than 100 lines, natch).

The code is more of a Toy at the moment as it assumes a very happy path. However it does work and it did provide some useful learning about Scala.

The good stuff includes: compact code, class imports, XML literals, map literal syntax and the NetBeans plugin does a good job of providing codealong feedback from the compiler.

Confusing stuff:

• accessing array indexes with () not [], it makes sense but you have to get used to when coming from Java
• implementing Java interfaces in Scala: still not totally sure how you do that
• getting the right type to allow a Java API to be called: Array[Byte] seemed to take a long time to get right and not having type-coercion for Scala Lists to Java Lists means there is a anemic list variable in play
• functions that have many parameters make for confusing IDE errors; do you want Int, Int, Int, Int, String, String or Int, Int, Int, Int?

And finally the bad:

• the streaming IO for binary files is entirely imperative and is basically Java code, I’ve been told that Scalax can help put a prettier front on that
• nothing to do with Scala but the in-built Java HttpServer should have had the public API in interfaces and there should have had an NIO-based HttpExchange
• I.cant.stop.using.periods even.if.I.dont.have.to

Overall I am pretty happy with the quality of the final code and I feel I’m finding the balance of the language more and seeing Scala as more of an extension of Java than something entirely unique.