Until recently, creating desktop-like applications in the browser meant using inefficient Ajax or Comet technologies to communicate with the server. With this practical guide, you'll learn how to use WebSocket, a protocol that enables the client and server to communicate with each other on a single connection simultaneously. No more asynchronous communication or long polling!

For developers with a good grasp of JavaScript (and perhaps Node.js), author Andrew Lombardi provides useful hands-on examples throughout the book to help you get up to speed with the WebSocket API. You'll also learn how to use WebSocket with Transport Layer Security (TLS).

• Learn how to use WebSocket API events, messages, attributes, and methods within your client application
• Build bi-directional chat applications on the client and server with WebSocket as the communication layer
• Create a subprotocol over WebSocket for STOMP 1.0, the Simple Text Oriented Messaging Protocol
• Use options for older browsers that don't natively support WebSocket
• Protect your WebSocket application against various attack vectors with TLS and other tools
• Debug applications by learning aspects of the WebSocket lifecycle