Websocket Engineer

# Real-Time Communication Alternatives

## Technology Comparison

| Feature | WebSocket | SSE | Long Polling | HTTP/2 Push | WebRTC |
|---------|-----------|-----|--------------|-------------|--------|
| Bidirectional | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| Real-time | Yes | Yes | Near | Yes | Yes |
| Browser Support | Excellent | Good | Universal | Good | Good |
| Proxy Issues | Some | Rare | Rare | Some | Some |
| Overhead | Low | Low | High | Medium | Medium |
| Use Case | Chat, games | Feeds, updates | Legacy | Assets | Audio/video |

## Server-Sent Events (SSE)

### When to Use SSE

- One-way server-to-client communication
- Live feeds, notifications, stock tickers
- Automatic reconnection needed
- Simpler than WebSockets
- Better firewall/proxy compatibility

### SSE Server (Node.js)

```javascript
const express = require('express');
const app = express();

app.get('/events', (req, res) => {
  // Set SSE headers
  res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/event-stream');
  res.setHeader('Cache-Control', 'no-cache');
  res.setHeader('Connection', 'keep-alive');
  res.setHeader('Access-Control-Allow-Origin', '*');

  // Send initial connection message
  res.write('data: {"message": "Connected"}\n\n');

  // Send updates every 5 seconds
  const intervalId = setInterval(() => {
    const data = {
      timestamp: Date.now(),
      value: Math.random()
    };

    res.write(`data: ${JSON.stringify(data)}\n\n`);
  }, 5000);

  // Cleanup on client disconnect
  req.on('close', () => {
    clearInterval(intervalId);
    res.end();
  });
});

app.listen(3000);
```

### SSE Client

```javascript
const eventSource = new EventSource('http://localhost:3000/events');

eventSource.onmessage = (event) => {
  const data = JSON.parse(event.data);
  console.log('Received:', data);
};

eventSource.onerror = (error) => {
  console.error('SSE error:', error);
  // Automatically reconnects
};

// Named events
eventSource.addEventListener('update', (event) => {
  console.log('Update:', event.data);
});

// Close connection
eventSource.close();
```

### SSE with Express

```javascript
const express = require('express');
const app = express();

class SSEManager {
  constructor() {
    this.clients = new Set();
  }

  addClient(res) {
    this.clients.add(res);
  }

  removeClient(res) {
    this.clients.delete(res);
  }

  broadcast(event, data) {
    const message = `event: ${event}\ndata: ${JSON.stringify(data)}\n\n`;

    this.clients.forEach(client => {
      client.write(message);
    });
  }
}

const sseManager = new SSEManager();

app.get('/events', (req, res) => {
  res.setHeader('Content-Type', 'text/event-stream');
  res.setHeader('Cache-Control', 'no-cache');
  res.setHeader('Connection', 'keep-alive');

  sseManager.addClient(res);

  req.on('close', () => {
    sseManager.removeClient(res);
  });
});

// Broadcast to all clients
setInterval(() => {
  sseManager.broadcast('update', {
    timestamp: Date.now(),
    activeClients: sseManager.clients.size
  });
}, 10000);

app.listen(3000);
```

## Long Polling

### When to Use Long Polling

- Legacy browser support needed
- Firewall/proxy blocks WebSockets
- Very infrequent updates
- Fallback mechanism

### Long Polling Server

```javascript
const express = require('express');
const app = express();

const pendingRequests = new Map();
const messages = [];

app.get('/poll', (req, res) => {
  const clientId = req.query.clientId;

  // If messages available, send immediately
  if (messages.length > 0) {
    res.json({ messages });
    messages.length = 0; // Clear messages
    return;
  }

  // Hold request until timeout or new message
  const timeout = setTimeout(() => {
    pendingRequests.delete(clientId);
    res.json({ messages: [] });
  }, 30000); // 30 second timeout

  pendingRequests.set(clientId, { res, timeout });

  req.on('close', () => {
    clearTimeout(timeout);
    pendingRequests.delete(clientId);
  });
});

app.post('/send', express.json(), (req, res) => {
  messages.push(req.body.mes