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Matrix has annoying HTTP long polling. That still hasn't been fixed. There's still no officially blessed alternative transport that wouldn't require you to send

by sham1 3y ago

Matrix has annoying HTTP long polling. That still hasn't been fixed. There's still no officially blessed alternative transport that wouldn't require you to send a request every N seconds just to see if you have a new message. JSON transport is also eh. At least with XMPP one could embed things like rich text easier and in a more "native" way. There's also some shadiness with how for example the reference client Element got a CLA a couple months back, because I guess Element wants to sell the AGPLv3+ code with a proprietary license. Of course one need not use Element or Synapse or whatever, but this kind of action is still something to consider. Matrix is certainly very, very good. But the best? Eh.

Gigachad 3y ago
Of all the problems, long polling seems like an entirely non issue. What negative experiences would a user face as a result of long polling?
- sham1 3y ago
  Decreased battery life, because you have to actively keep polling. Either WebSockets or even real TCP sockets would make that a lot better. Also, it means that a server can't really push events at you, especially if they're coming in rapidly, as they might be with a sufficiently active community. Like sure, once you're waiting for the server response for your long poll request, you'll get the data, but between receiving the data and the next time you poll, there's bound to be stuff happening in your chat room that you'll only know about the next time you poll. Of course with that, you wouldn't need to poll for long, but that also causes problems with battery. In contrast WebSockets or even raw, real TCP sockets the server can just push stuff at you.
  - Gigachad 3y ago
    Those polls sit suspended for quite a long time. I can’t imagine it moves the needle at all on battery life. Just open reddit and it fires off more network requests than an entire day long polling. The timing also isn’t fixed. It isn’t like you only receive data on the poll interval. The request finalises when data comes in and a new one is created instantly. So I can’t imagine there being more than a second delay for receiving messages which is entirely acceptable for the use case. If nothing is happening, you’d only be making a request every couple of minutes, but in an active chat it’s perfectly capable of making them continuously. And for mobile, it isn’t long polling while the app is closed, it’s using the regular push notifications system.

by sham1 3y ago

Gigachad 3y ago

Of all the problems, long polling seems like an entirely non issue. What negative experiences would a user face as a result of long polling?

sham1 3y ago
Decreased battery life, because you have to actively keep polling. Either WebSockets or even real TCP sockets would make that a lot better. Also, it means that a server can't really push events at you, especially if they're coming in rapidly, as they might be with a sufficiently active community. Like sure, once you're waiting for the server response for your long poll request, you'll get the data, but between receiving the data and the next time you poll, there's bound to be stuff happening in your chat room that you'll only know about the next time you poll. Of course with that, you wouldn't need to poll for long, but that also causes problems with battery. In contrast WebSockets or even raw, real TCP sockets the server can just push stuff at you.
- Gigachad 3y ago
  Those polls sit suspended for quite a long time. I can’t imagine it moves the needle at all on battery life. Just open reddit and it fires off more network requests than an entire day long polling. The timing also isn’t fixed. It isn’t like you only receive data on the poll interval. The request finalises when data comes in and a new one is created instantly. So I can’t imagine there being more than a second delay for receiving messages which is entirely acceptable for the use case. If nothing is happening, you’d only be making a request every couple of minutes, but in an active chat it’s perfectly capable of making them continuously. And for mobile, it isn’t long polling while the app is closed, it’s using the regular push notifications system.