[whatwg] WebSockets: why boolean return value for send()?

[Ian Hickson]

On Thu, 15 Apr 2010, Simon Pieters wrote:
>
> WebSocket send():
> 
> [[
> The send(data) method transmits data using the connection. ... If the
> connection is established, and the string has no unpaired surrogates, and the
> WebSocket closing handshake has not yet started, then the user agent must send
> data using the WebSocket. If the data cannot be sent, e.g. because it would
> need to be buffered but the buffer is full, the user agent must close the
> WebSocket connection. The method must then return true if the connection is
> still established (and the data was queued or sent successfully), or false if
> the connection is closing or closed (e.g. because the user agent just had a
> buffer overflow and failed to send the data, or because the WebSocket closing
> handshake has started).
> ]]
> 
> Why does send() have a boolean return value? What problem does it solve?
> 
> It seems to me that we don't want send() to wait with returning until 
> data has been sent over the network, or until the connection has been 
> closed. If the script wants to check if the connection is closing or 
> closed, it can read readyState instead of reading the return value of 
> send(). If a script wants to check if the data was sent, it can read 
> bufferedAmount or let the server respond.
> 
> As I see it, the boolean return value of send() is imposing 
> implementation complexity and slowness in script execution without 
> solving any problem. If I've missed something, please explain. 
> Otherwise, I think send() should just update bufferedAmount and have an 
> early void return and do the sending or closing connection async.

I couldn't work out why send() sends a boolean (the e-mails sent at the 
time of the change talk about everything but the return value) so I've 
removed this feature.

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