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Not just the DOM, HTTP as well. We're shoehorning state into a stateless system, and inventing new crap like WebSockets to overcome limitations of a system designed for document retrieval. The web has turned into the biggest hack ever.



Like how TCP is a hacked-together impression of reliable transfer over an unreliable medium?

Nothing wrong with layering approaches, but the problem is knowing where to place the borders in order to give clarity at every level.


Bigger than x86? I doubt it. It's fine for things to evolve: so long as the complexity is compartmentalised we can forget about it and move on with our lives.


I don't see the point of websockets, why not just let the browser make normal outbound TCP connections?


I think the main points WebSocket vs. unrestricted TCP sockets is:

1. Support for a browser-appropriate security model (origin-based)

2. Not requiring extra work to pass through HTTP-friendly (and everything-else-hostile) firewalls.


I assume you would apply the same origin policy to the connections.

The firewall point is good, although I don't understand why you would want to block general TCP connections but not websock.


A lot of corporate environments prevent you from connecting to anything but port 80 and 443. Websockets is the only way for you to multiplex your tcp-like connections over port 80.


Right, but I assume they block those other ports for a reason. What is different about websocket that makes that reason no longer apply?


Because: we want a message-based protocol, and we want to make it (comparatively) hard to launch a DDOS attack using visitors to a website.




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