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WebSockets

The technology you wish you knew more about…

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...until you start using them and realize that you now hate me for introducing them to you in the first place, for “oh so many” reasons...

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Who are you and why should I listen?

  • Shane Tarleton
    • Software Engineer at iHeartMedia, Inc.
    • 10+ years doing “full-stack” web development
    • INSANELY dry sense of humor...almost not worth listening to
  • MOST IMPORTANTLY:
    • Don’t listen to me. Do your own research.
  • Social Links (...in case you didn’t read the last bullet)

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What are WebSockets?

  • “TLDR” version:
    • WebSockets is the “instant messenger” functionality built directly into web browsers and servers
  • “Technobabble” version:
    • WebSocket is a web protocol built built using a TCP connection, with compatibility for HTTP, to provide web clients and servers a real-time, two-way method of communication 1

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Intriguing, but why do I care?

  • Do you remember the first time you...
    • ...used IM or IRC message?
    • ...received a text message?
    • ...got a push notification on your phone?
  • But we already have long-polling in “AJAX”...
    • It requires constantly “pinging” your database 2
    • It is EXTREMELY taxing on web server resources 3

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Okaaaaaay...how do I use it?

  • Basically any major server-side web development language*** has it…
    • Java 4
    • C# / F# (using SignalR 5)
    • Python 6
    • Node.js (using WS 7 or Socket.io 8)
    • Ruby (multiple different libraries available)
  • All major browsers across every major device has native support 9
    • Or you can choose to use a library (such as Socket.io) to make it easier

*** not sure about other languages, as these are the only ones I know about or have researched previously

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Does anyone use it in production?

  • Couple of apps currently use it...of which I am aware:
    • GitHub (certain use-cases)
    • Slack (almost entirely driven on WebSockets)
    • Transparently (shameless plug for my personal project)

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Are there alternatives?

  • Long-polling over HTTP (already spoke about this)
    • Supported in multiple libraries (such as JQuery)
    • Supported in every major browser
  • SSE (Server-Sent Events)
    • Has limited browser support 10
  • There are varying reviews of the techniques 11 12

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SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!

  • https://github.com/th3n3wguy/sadevs-websocket-demo
  • Instructions to run it are in the README.md file
    • ...just in case you are crazy enough to try it out yourself (remember what I said earlier?)

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Sources / Reading Material

  1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebSocket
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Push_technology#Long_polling
  3. https://blog.baasil.io/why-you-shouldnt-use-long-polling-fallbacks-for-websockets-c1fff32a064a
  4. https://docs.oracle.com/javaee/7/tutorial/websocket.htm
  5. http://www.asp.net/signalr
  6. https://websockets.readthedocs.io/en/stable/intro.html
  7. https://github.com/websockets/ws
  8. https://socket.io/
  9. https://caniuse.com/#feat=websockets
  10. https://caniuse.com/#feat=eventsource
  11. https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2018/02/sse-websockets-data-flow-http2/
  12. https://codeburst.io/polling-vs-sse-vs-websocket-how-to-choose-the-right-one-1859e4e13bd9