Project Overview

• A fully functional, minimal URL shortener implemented in Go.

• A speedrun project for learning that I made while reading a system design article about Bitly

• This project consists of three relatively simple handlers:

  1. HandleForm: Displays a form to input URLs for shortening.
  2. Shorten: Processes the submitted URL and generates a short key.
  3. Redirect: Redirects to the original URL when a shortened URL is accessed.

Features

Shortens long URLs (or any URL) into compact links that redirect to the original

What I Learned

• Translating system design concepts into working code
• Using Go’s “html/template” package to parse user input from a form
• Working with Go’s “net/http” package to handle URL redirects
• Error handling, the idiomatic Go way
• Accounting for edge cases while writing the handlers

Possible Improvements

• Use base62-encoding with unique IDs to ensure uniqueness
• Data persistence for shortened URLs