I like to use gopher for early demonstrations that some low-level networking code works or how it should be used. It is certainly easier to write working gopher

I like to use gopher for early demonstrations that some low-level networking code works or how it should be used. It is certainly easier to write working gopher client/server than to deal with intricacies of HTTP or most other protocols when you want to test that TCP stack or code that breaks down incoming byte stream into lines actually works. And I'm seriously considering writing GUI gopher client as an all-encompassing example in dfsch.