[slime-devel] New wire format

[Helmut Eller]

* 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