Re: [hybi] #1: HTTP Compliance

[Ian Hickson <[e-mail]>]

On Tue, 18 May 2010, Jamie Lokier wrote:
> > On Mon, 17 May 2010, Dave Cridland wrote:
> > > a desktop client might initiate a session with an HTTP service 
> > > without knowing a priori if it's an HTTP or WebSocket service.
>
> For example, a social networking client running in a browser, designed 
> to fetch feed information from numerous different services from other 
> providers (imagine Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter etc.), those services 
> running a variety of feed protocols over WebSocket.
> 
> When the user is given a URL for a third party bidirectional service, 
> the client tries WebSocket subprotocol A first, then WebSocket 
> subprotocol B, then C, then a HTTP hanging-GET equivalent.

Since a Web Socket URL starts with "ws" and an HTTP URL starts with 
"http", I don't think that's a realistic scenario.

Furthermore, if a script really did do this (e.g. because it was given 
just a domain name, not a URL), then it would use the WebSocket object to 
open the Web Socket connection, and XMLHttpRequest to open the HTTP 
connection, and they would be separate connections -- at no point would 
the client open a connection without knowing whether it's expecting HTTP 
or Web Socket, as Dave suggested.

-- 
Ian Hickson               U+1047E                )\._.,--....,'``.    fL
http://ln.hixie.ch/       U+263A                /,   _.. \   _\  ;`._ ,.
Things that are impossible just take longer.   `._.-(,_..'--(,_..'`-.;.'