As a software developer, I often write HTML files or JavaScript code that I would like to see in my web browser. I could just open the file in my browser, but if I’m testing JavaScript I would rather run from a real server. I could start up an Apache server, or create an instance of NGINX using Docker. But both of those options require too much effort for simply testing an HTML file. What I really want is just a command that will allow me to start an HTTP server in the folder where the HTML or JavaScript files are saved. Well, thanks to Python, such a option exists. Simply go to the directory where you want the server to run from and execute the command:
python -m SimpleHTTPServer 8080
This will start up a simple HTTP server running on port 8080. Now, point your web browser to localhost:8080 and you can see your web page! Nothing could be simpler for quick testing of web pages or websites!