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The article compares different technologies such as WebSockets, Server-Sent Events, Long-Polling, WebRTC, and WebTransport, focusing on their roles in facilitating server to client communication in real-time web applications. It discusses their advantages, limitations, and suitability for various use cases.
Main Points
Explanation of Long Polling
Long-polling emulates server push communications with XHR requests and allows more immediate data updates, but introduces potential delays.
Understanding WebSockets
WebSockets enable full-duplex communication over a single connection, making them suitable for real-time applications requiring low latency and high-frequency updates.
Insight into Server-Sent Events
Server-Sent Events offer a standard way for one-way communication from server to client, using a single HTTP request with an open connection.
Overview of WebTransport
WebTransport leverages HTTP/3 QUIC protocol for efficient communication but faces adoption challenges due to current browser and framework support.
Introduction to WebRTC
WebRTC supports real-time communication directly within browsers and mobile applications, but primarily focuses on peer-to-peer connections.
Insights
Long-polling vs WebSockets vs Server-Sent Events vs WebTransport
Long-polling was succeeded by WebSockets for bidirectional communication, followed by SSE for one-way server to client communication, with WebTransport promising a more efficient, flexible approach.
Challenges of WebTransport's adoption
As of March 2024, WebTransport, despite offering promising data transmission features, faces adoption challenges due to limited browser and server framework support.
Advantages of Server-Sent Events
SSE emerges as a straightforward option, leveraging HTTP/S protocols for easy integration and circumventing issues like corporate firewall restrictions.
Links
- RxDB - JavaScript Database
- RxDB Replication Protocol
- WebSockets on MDN
- Socket.IO
- EventSource on MDN
- SSE Specification
- HTTP/3 QUIC Protocol
- WebTransport Working Draft
- WebTransport Browser Support
- WebRTC
- SETTINGS_MAX_CONCURRENT_STREAMS
- WebSocket WebRTC WebTransport Performance Comparison
- Nginx HTTP/3 Support
- Hackernews discussion of the article
- Announcement tweet
Images
URL
https://rxdb.info/articles/websockets-sse-polling-webrtc-webtransport.html