How does Dexador compare to Drakma for Common Lisp HTTP clients?

Dexador is faster due to connection pooling and has cleaner APIs, but Drakma is more mature and stable, as Dexador is still in beta with potential API changes. Benchmarks show Dexador can be nearly twice as fast for repeated requests.

How to handle errors and retry failed requests in Dexador?

Use the `http-request-failed` condition with handlers like `dex:ignore-and-continue` or `dex:retry-request` for structured error management. For example, you can bind handlers to retry up to 5 times with intervals.

Does Dexador support SOCKS5 proxies on Windows?

No, the README states that proxy support, including SOCKS5, is not available on Windows backends, which limits functionality for Windows users needing proxy configurations.

Is Dexador production ready or still in development?

It's marked as beta quality with likely API changes, so it's not recommended for production systems that require stability. Use it for experimental or non-critical projects instead.

How to upload files using Dexador in Common Lisp?

Include a pathname in the `:content` alist when making a POST request, and Dexador will automatically detect and send it as multipart/form-data, as shown in the example with photo uploads.

What are the performance benefits of Dexador's connection pooling?

Connection pooling skips TCP handshakes for repeated requests to the same host, significantly improving speed. Benchmarks show it reduces real-time execution by about half compared to Drakma for 30 requests.

Open-Awesome

Dexador

Common Lisp

A fast HTTP client for Common Lisp with neat APIs and connection pooling.

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Overview

A fast HTTP client for Common Lisp

Use Cases

Not Ideal For

Production systems requiring stable, unchanging APIs due to its beta status and warned likelihood of changes.
Windows-based applications needing full SOCKS5 or HTTP proxy support, as it's not supported on Windows backends.
Projects demanding extensive SSL/TLS customization beyond basic certificate and key file handling.

Pros & Cons

Pros

High Performance Connection Pooling

Reuses TCP connections to skip handshakes, making repeated requests significantly faster, as shown in benchmarks where it outperforms Drakma by nearly 2x in real-time execution.

Intuitive and Clean APIs

Provides simple functions like `get` and `post` with consistent parameters, reducing boilerplate code and improving developer experience, as demonstrated in the usage examples.

Robust Error Handling

Signals specific conditions like `http-request-failed` for 4xx/5xx status codes, enabling structured retry logic and error recovery with handlers such as `dex:retry-request`.

Automatic Multipart Support

Detects pathnames in content and automatically sends as multipart/form-data, simplifying file uploads without manual configuration, as shown in the POST examples.

Cons

Beta Quality with Unstable APIs

The library is explicitly marked as beta with a warning that APIs are likely to change, posing a risk for long-term projects and production deployments.

Limited Proxy Support on Windows

SOCKS5 and HTTP proxy functionality is not available on Windows backends, restricting its use in Windows environments and requiring workarounds for proxy configurations.

Dependency on External Libraries

Relies on cl-cookie and quri for cookie management and URI handling, which might complicate setup and maintenance compared to all-in-one solutions.

Open Source Alternative To

Dexador is an open-source alternative to the following products:

Drakma

Drakma is a Common Lisp HTTP client library that supports various HTTP features like cookies, SSL, and multipart forms.

Frequently Asked Questions

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