* Hugo Duncan [2011-11-07 17:16] writes:
If HTTP is so great then why are WebSockets specified as a binary protocol?
The websockets protocol has text headers: http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-hybi-thewebsocketprotocol-17
Have you actually read that document? After switching from HTTP to WebSocket the header format becomes binary.
Given this is a breaking change, I also see the desire to introduce an extension mechanism at the same time. I would argue a text based header/value extension would be more appropriate.
A fixed sized header is a clear efficiency win. It's also easier to implement.
The efficiency difference is negligible, imho. The implementation isn't any easier in clojure at least.
Slime never had variable sized headers. So I'm not sure what you are comparing.
At the end of the day, I realise the balance between the respective merits of binary and text headers is somewhat subjective.
Yes, it's also rather academic as there are only 2 or 3 people that need to debug this.
Being one of these people, it effects me [1]. As you say, it is not rocket science and I have a working version with the new protocol. For what it is worth, I still think it is the wrong direction.
Would be interesting to know what took more time: implementing the change or this discussion.
Helmut