Modern Communication: Sockets (2014)

https://ocaml.github.io/ocamlunix/sockets.html

by yawaramin • 5 years ago

76 13 5 years ago

ocaml.github.io

A real modern communication would be something like NATS (somewhat similar to ZeroMQ in concepts). It's quite amazing, even more frictionless than ZeroMQ.

jdnier• 5 years ago

Details on NATS:

https://nats.io/

https://github.com/nats-io

djstein• 5 years ago

How is this different from RabbitMQ?

tyingq2• 5 years ago

There's a comparison page that includes RabbitMQ here: https://docs.nats.io/compare-nats

ssss11• 5 years ago

What does NATS do that you think is amazing?

htjglhktbrn2• 5 years ago

It took me two days to learn it's specifics 3 years ago, and after that I never-ever had a problem with it. ItJustWorks(TM).

In this sense it's a bit like Sqlite, which also JustWorks, as opposed to something like Postgres which requires more fiddling and maintenance.

And functionally, it allowed me to create a service-bus topology where multiple processes can post messages on a set of subjects that can be subscribed by multiple other processes (think stock market quotes). This pattern is surprisingly difficult to implement in other message brokers.

nine_k• 5 years ago

...as long as you are not sensitive to delays. Not sound, not video, not games.

ClumsyPilot• 5 years ago

Low latency networking is so ignored, it's like a dark art. I tried to play with it at one point. I got stuck at encryption

There is SSL support everywhere, but nothing seems to support DTLS? Do people even use it?

yesenadam• 5 years ago

This is Chapter 6 of Unix system programming in OCaml (2014 version) by Xavier Leroy and Didier Rémy.

https://ocaml.github.io/ocamlunix/index.html

waynesonfire• 5 years ago

pipes / sockets is the mechanism but protocols is the means. what are some protocols and their elements worth knowing?

I suspect folks will point at protocols that already exist and work great. But, ideally, we wouldn't start there. But instead, unpack them from the very basic (simplex, synchronous) to the advanced.

For example, we have lists and trees as basic data structures to postgres as more advanced for managing data. At some point, you reach for the RDBMS but developers get plenty of mileage out of simpler solutions. Throughout our careers we've bumped into many protocols, I've not been able to digest, appreciate, and study their constituents. When should one mock up a quick protocol vs invest or extend an existing one?

Design protocols is fascinating to me. Compared to things that I design on a regular basis, software or APIs, it seems different.

Modern Communication: Sockets (2014)

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