express vs http-server: What are the differences?

1. 1. CORS Support: The key difference between express and http-server is that express provides built-in support for Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS), while http-server does not. CORS is a mechanism that allows a web page to make XMLHttpRequests to a different domain than the one it was served from. Express middleware can be used to enable CORS and control the access to resources from different origins.

2. 2. Routing and Middleware: Express is a flexible and powerful web application framework that provides advanced routing and middleware capabilities. It allows developers to define routes and associated handlers to handle requests to specific URLs. Middleware functions can also be used to perform various tasks such as authentication, logging, and error handling. On the other hand, http-server is a simple command-line tool that serves static files and does not provide these advanced routing and middleware features.

3. 3. Server-side Templating: Express supports server-side templating engines such as Pug (formerly known as Jade) and EJS, which allow for dynamic content generation on the server-side. This means that the server can render HTML templates with dynamic data before sending them to the client. http-server, being a static file server, does not provide built-in support for server-side templating and is focused solely on serving static files.

4. 4. HTTP and HTTPS Support: Express supports both HTTP and HTTPS protocols, allowing developers to create applications that can be accessed over secure connections. It provides methods to create HTTP and HTTPS servers and handle requests over both protocols. http-server, on the other hand, primarily focuses on serving files over HTTP and does not provide built-in support for HTTPS.

5. 5. Middleware Ecosystem: Express has a vast ecosystem of middleware packages that can be easily integrated into applications to add additional functionality. These packages cover a wide range of features such as session management, authentication, form handling, and more. http-server, being a simple static file server, does not have a comparable middleware ecosystem.

6. 6. Server Configuration: With Express, developers have more control over the server configuration. They can define server settings such as port number, IP address, and other options according to their specific requirements. http-server, on the other hand, has limited server configuration options as it focuses primarily on serving static files.

In Summary, the key differences between express and http-server are that Express provides built-in support for CORS, advanced routing and middleware capabilities, server-side templating, HTTP and HTTPS support, a vast middleware ecosystem, and more control over the server configuration. http-server, on the other hand, is a simple static file server that serves files over HTTP without these features.