The full webwords implementations have proper error handling, logging, and structure. But what's the absolute minimum code needed to implement the core functionality?
The companion webwords git repo lives here.
the challenge
Implement webwords functionality in the fewest Python characters possible:
- Accept HTTP requests on port 31337
- Parse keyword and target parameters
- Fetch target URI content
- Return true if keyword found, false otherwise
python solution
import http.server as h,urllib.request as u,urllib.parse as p
class S(h.BaseHTTPRequestHandler):
def do_GET(s):q=dict(p.parse_qsl(p.urlparse(s.path).query));s.send_response(200);s.end_headers();s.wfile.write(str(q.get('keyword','')in u.urlopen(q.get('target','')).read().decode()).lower().encode())
h.HTTPServer(('',31337),S).serve_forever()
Character count: 314
c solution
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <unistd.h>
#include <sys/socket.h>
#include <netinet/in.h>
#include <curl/curl.h>
struct M{char*m;size_t s;};size_t w(void*c,size_t z,size_t n,void*u){size_t r=z*n;struct M*m=u;char*p=realloc(m->m,m->s+r+1);if(!p)return 0;m->m=p;memcpy(&m->m[m->s],c,r);m->s+=r;m->m[m->s]=0;return r;}int f(char*u,char**o){CURL*h;struct M c={malloc(1),0};curl_global_init(0);h=curl_easy_init();if(h){curl_easy_setopt(h,10002,u);curl_easy_setopt(h,20011,w);curl_easy_setopt(h,10001,&c);curl_easy_perform(h);curl_easy_cleanup(h);}curl_global_cleanup();*o=c.m;return 1;}void s(int k,char*r){char b[256];sprintf(b,"HTTP/1.1 200 OK\r\nContent-Length: %zu\r\n\r\n%s",strlen(r),r);send(k,b,strlen(b),0);}int main(){int v=socket(2,1,0),c;struct sockaddr_in a={2,htons(31337),0};bind(v,(void*)&a,16);listen(v,10);while(1){c=accept(v,0,0);char b[4096],*q,*t,*d;recv(c,b,4095,0);q=strchr(b,'?');if(q&&(t=strstr(q,"target="))&&(q=strstr(q,"keyword="))){char*p;if((p=strchr(t+7,'&')))*(p)=0;else if((p=strchr(t+7,' ')))*(p)=0;if((p=strchr(q+8,'&')))*(p)=0;else if((p=strchr(q+8,' ')))*(p)=0;if(f(t+7,&d))s(c,strstr(d,q+8)?"true":"false");else s(c,"false");free(d);}else s(c,"false");close(c);}}
Character count: 1,232
how they work
Python version (314 chars):
- Compressed imports with short aliases
- Minimal variable names (s for self, q for query)
- Chained operations on single lines
- No error handling or validation
- Direct string conversion of boolean result
C version (1,232 chars):
- Single-character variable names
- Removes all whitespace and comments
- Uses curl magic numbers instead of constants
- Minimal HTTP response formatting
- No error checking or memory leak prevention
docker implementation
Python Dockerfile:
FROM alpine:latest
ENTRYPOINT ["/bin/webwords"]
EXPOSE 31337
COPY golf.py /bin/webwords
RUN chmod 0754 /bin/webwords
RUN apk --no-cache add python3 ca-certificates && rm -rf /var/cache/apk/*
C Dockerfile:
FROM alpine:latest
RUN apk --no-cache add gcc musl-dev curl-dev
WORKDIR /app
COPY golf.c .
RUN gcc -o webwords golf.c -lcurl
EXPOSE 31337
CMD ["./webwords"]
testing
Python golf:
docker build -f Dockerfile.golf -t webwords-golf .
docker run -d -p 31337:31337 webwords-golf
curl "http://localhost:31337/?keyword=potato&target=https://www.remarkbox.com"
C golf:
docker build -f Dockerfile.cgolf -t webwords-cgolf .
docker run -d -p 31337:31337 webwords-cgolf
curl "http://localhost:31337/?keyword=potato&target=https://www.remarkbox.com"
Both return true for potato and false for lemon, just like the full implementations.
comparison
- Full webwords Python: 50+ lines, proper structure, error handling
- Full webwords C: 268 lines, proper structure, error handling
- Python golf: 3 lines, 314 characters, minimal functionality
- C golf: 1 line, 1,232 characters, minimal functionality
- Functionality: Identical for valid requests
These golf versions prove webwords' core concept can be distilled to its absolute essence while remaining functional across different programming paradigms.
