

A is for Ajax and C is for Comet - jcsalterego
http://leahculver.com/2009/07/24/a-is-for-ajax-and-c-is-for-comet/

======
tybris
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_(programming)>

I don't think I've ever seen so many warnings on a single Wikipedia article.

To be honest, the ridiculous ways in which you have to implement trivial
network applications on the Web sometimes makes me think whether the Web may
have severely slowed down technological progress. People are still building
IRC, usenet, FTP and e-mail, but this time in the stupid way.

~~~
indiejade
This is not an interesting post. The OP on Leah Culver's site is one of the
most ridiculously obvious things ever written on the web; a "definition" of
AJAX? Really? She offers no insightful commentary (linking to Wikipedia).

Every post on her blog is a cleverly (but not _that_ cleverly) disguised self-
promotional stunt. I've never seen somebody on the web so obsessed with
herself. Who, exactly, does she think her audience is? A bunch of Diggers?

If somebody wanted to post about the "Comet" PL to YCN, they could have just
posted the link to the Wikipedia article and started a discussion about that.

~~~
blasdel
_Who, exactly, does she think her audience is? A bunch of Diggers?_

Bingo. I prefer a more pejorative nomenclature: Digg users are _Duggalos_

------
old-gregg
Wow.

I was always fascinated how a single function - XMLHttpRequest() has grown to
be promoted into a TECHNOLOGY but it just outdone itself by becoming two (!)
TECHNOLOGIES by taking a little longer to return to the caller.

scanf() must be screaming with envy. Poor old scanf()... future holds nothing
for it.

------
rwolf
For things besides chat, Comet sounds simpler than XMPP.

I'm planning a project management project with a whiteboard, this article is
going to save me the time I was going to spend trying to make a chat server
act like things it's not.

edit: For anyone else who reads this article and starts digging around, check
out [http://www.ape-
project.org/wiki/index.php/How_to_write_an_ap...](http://www.ape-
project.org/wiki/index.php/How_to_write_an_application_with_APE)

~~~
nir
AFAIK Comet's not really an XMPP alternative, rather XMPP works (usually) on
top of a Comet implementation.

BTW I posted a little Chat over Comet intro with some code, perhaps it might
interest some: [http://niryariv.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/the-long-poll-
imple...](http://niryariv.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/the-long-poll-implementing-
ajax-chat-with-comet/)

~~~
rwolf
You could be right; wiki describes XMPP (BOSH) as an alternative
([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_(programming)#Alternative...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_\(programming\)#Alternatives)).

------
TweedHeads
"What’s the future of Comet?" None.

It will be killed as soon as WebSockets get implemented.

WebSockets will bring the real-time web alive. It will be the greatest advance
in internet since its early days.

Google Wave will ride on WebSockets. Web alerts will be the next gold mine.
iPhone like push messages for email, feeds, etc., web chat without hacks,
instant collaboration and much more.

We really don't understand right now the impact of the real-time web, but it
will be pervasive.

~~~
Tichy
When will that be, and when will all Browsers support it?

~~~
TweedHeads
I'd adventure to say by the end of the year all major browsers will implement
WebSockets: Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera are working on it as we speak.

~~~
EvilTrout
You're missing one VERY big browser in that list.

------
electronslave
I've had enough of this real-time web silliness. Threading and networking on
the client side is exactly what it seems. "Real time" is something entirely
different than a client-server metaphor, which is all this browser thing has
ever been.

The difference? Real time applications run discrete logic on bare metal and
have sub-millisecond response time. Web applications that use multiple data
sources with short update periodicity is what it says on the tin.

As many HN links hint, REST = CRUD, AJAX = TCP/IP and what was old is new
again.

However, while the future may look like a cheaper IBM-style mainframe-to-the-
world thing, it just looks like web services via vendor lock-in to me. Like a
low-rent version of SUN's old slogan.

