Rawkes

WebSockets at London JS

Yesterday evening I talked about WebSockets at London JS, a fairly new event that is already proving incredibly popular with developers around the city. What made the night even more exciting is that the talk very nearly didn’t happen! In this entry I’ll be rounding up my thoughts on the event, giving you the resources from my talk, and shedding some light on why it nearly didn’t happen.

Yesterday evening I talked about WebSockets at London JS, a fairly new event that is already proving incredibly popular with developers around the city. What made the night even more exciting is that the talk very nearly didn't happen! In this entry I'll be rounding up my thoughts on the event, giving you the resources from my talk, and shedding some light on why it nearly didn't happen.

Embracing the real-time Web

This talk is all about the real-time Web and how WebSockets can help developers implement instant, streaming communication.

I start with an introduction to what WebSockets actually are, then hightlight some of the reasons why you would want to use them over other technologies.

Throughout the rest of the talk I show you how to use the JavaScript API for WebSockets on the client, and also how to use Node.js to set up WebSockets on the server.

I end the talk with a couple of observations and wishes for the future of WebSockets.

More real-world examples

One interesting point that was raised during my talk was that there are few real-world examples of WebSockets being used outside of gaming and live social media streams.

I actually believe that this is a problem with HTML5 and the new JavaScript technologies in general. As developers we are creating all these cool experiments and demonstrations, but we're not putting enough focus on the real-world applications of these technologies.

I think more effort needs to be put in by developers and events organisers to shift focus from the "Look how cool this tech is" approach, towards a more "Why this tech is cool" one.

What I mean is that we need to remember that the cool demos will get the developers on board, but only the reasons why this tech is cool and useful in the real-world will get the stakeholders and decision-makers on board.

It nearly didn't happen

Annoyingly, I arrived over an hour late to the event and very nearly missed the slot for my talk. The reason for this is that someone decided that it would be a good idea to see what the underside of a train looks like.

Not only did this cause considerable disruption where the accident occurred, but the backlog was felt across the entire rail network. In the end I was booted off my train early, shifted to one platform, then to another, then back to the original platform, and then placed on a train that travelled at about 5 MPH the entire way.

In all, it added an extra hour to my journey and I apologise for that causing me to arrive late. It has certainly made me consider leaving slightly earlier for events now.

Slides

My feedback

  • Small audience (30–40)
  • Full-house in an intimate venue
  • Spontanious and useful discussion between attendees during my talk, albeit with some interruption (I'd prefer people to put their hand up)
  • Good discussion with attendees after event, which continued at the local pub
  • Venue was super-close to the train station
  • Can't comment on other talks or food as I arrived late
  • Wasn't communicated that the AV would be 16:9, but then again all events fail to communicate these details properly
  • Lack of proper video recording, but the organiser has told me that they will be fixing this

Resources

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