Creating HTTP servers is fundamental for building web applications, APIs, and backend services with Node.js for modern web development. As the creator of CoreUI, a widely used open-source UI library, I’ve built numerous Node.js servers to support CoreUI demos, documentation sites, and enterprise backend services. From my expertise, the most straightforward approach is to use Node.js’s built-in http module with createServer() method. This method provides direct control over request handling and is perfect for understanding server fundamentals before moving to frameworks like Express.

Reading files is essential for configuration loading, data processing, and content serving in Node.js applications and server-side development. As the creator of CoreUI, a widely used open-source UI library, I’ve implemented file reading in numerous Node.js build tools, documentation generators, and template processors for CoreUI projects. From my expertise, the most versatile approach is to use the fs.readFile() method for asynchronous file operations. This method prevents blocking the event loop and provides better performance in web applications that handle multiple concurrent requests.