Learn how we implemented real-time updates using Node.js, TypeScript, and PostgreSQL with HTTP long polling. A practical guide to building scalable real-time systems without WebSockets.

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Learn how to implement real-time updates with Node.js, TypeScript, and PostgreSQL using HTTP long polling. This approach avoids the complexities of WebSockets, simplifies authentication and infrastructure compatibility, and retains standard HTTP observability. The post provides a detailed implementation guide, optimization tips, and comparisons with alternative solutions like ElectricSQL.

Back to Basics: Why We Chose Long Polling Over WebSockets

The Challenge: Real-time Updates at Scale

A Case for WebSockets: The Other Side of the Story

Reading this post reminds me why, if I’m going to do websockets, I prefer to use a system that has more native support for it.
For me that’s using elixir, Phoenix, LiveView, Channels, and <a href="http://fly.io" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">fly.io</a> as the infrastructure layer.
Make sense why the author chose to keep to long polling since there wasn’t out of the box support with the existing system.

I read about short polling and long polling. There is a note at the end talking very superficially about websockets… A bit of a misleading title…

Freaking looked for this websocket alternative with http server
Thanks 😊

I always expected this to happen some day. Long polling felt bad back in the days, because servers had limited resources, connections were slower etc etc. Then we got sockets and spa. I bet people won’t even notice if you use the basic stuff nowadays.