messages.py

from bottle import get, post, request, run
import time

LIMIT = 500

messages = []

@get('/')
def poll_messages():
    ts = float(request.query.timestamp or "0")
    return {'messages': filter(lambda x: x[0] > ts, messages)}

@post('/add/')
def post_message():
    messages.append((time.time(), request.forms.get('message')))
    if len(messages) > LIMIT:
        messages.pop(0)
    return str(len(messages))

@get('/add/')
def post_message_form():
    return '''<form method="POST">
                <textarea name="message"></textarea><br/>
                <input type="submit" value="add"/>
              </form>'''

run(host='localhost', port=8080, debug=True, reloader=True)