对于聊天应用程序或任何其他与服务器持续对话的应用程序，WebSockets是最好的选择。但是，您只能在支持WebSockets的服务器上使用它们，因此如果您无法安装所需的库，则可能会限制您使用它们的能力。在这种情况下，您将需要使用长轮询来获得类似的功能。

WebSockets绝对是未来的趋势。

长轮询是一种肮脏的解决方法，可以防止像AJAX那样为每个请求创建连接——但长轮询是在WebSockets不存在的时候创建的。现在由于WebSockets， 长时间的投票不会再消失了。

WebRTC允许点对点通信。

我建议学习WebSockets。

比较:

不同的网络交流技巧

AJAX - request → response. Creates a connection to the server, sends request headers with optional data, gets a response from the server, and closes the connection. Supported in all major browsers. Long poll - request → wait → response. Creates a connection to the server like AJAX does, but maintains a keep-alive connection open for some time (not long though). During connection, the open client can receive data from the server. The client has to reconnect periodically after the connection is closed, due to timeouts or data eof. On server side it is still treated like an HTTP request, same as AJAX, except the answer on request will happen now or some time in the future, defined by the application logic. support chart (full) | wikipedia WebSockets - client ↔ server. Create a TCP connection to the server, and keep it open as long as needed. The server or client can easily close the connection. The client goes through an HTTP compatible handshake process. If it succeeds, then the server and client can exchange data in both directions at any time. It is efficient if the application requires frequent data exchange in both ways. WebSockets do have data framing that includes masking for each message sent from client to server, so data is simply encrypted. support chart (very good) | wikipedia WebRTC - peer ↔ peer. Transport to establish communication between clients and is transport-agnostic, so it can use UDP, TCP or even more abstract layers. This is generally used for high volume data transfer, such as video/audio streaming, where reliability is secondary and a few frames or reduction in quality progression can be sacrificed in favour of response time and, at least, some data transfer. Both sides (peers) can push data to each other independently. While it can be used totally independent from any centralised servers, it still requires some way of exchanging endPoints data, where in most cases developers still use centralised servers to "link" peers. This is required only to exchange essential data for establishing a connection, after which a centralised server is not required. support chart (medium) | wikipedia Server-Sent Events - client ← server. Client establishes persistent and long-term connection to server. Only the server can send data to a client. If the client wants to send data to the server, it would require the use of another technology/protocol to do so. This protocol is HTTP compatible and simple to implement in most server-side platforms. This is a preferable protocol to be used instead of Long Polling. support chart (good, except IE) | wikipedia

优点:

The main advantage of WebSockets server-side, is that it is not an HTTP request (after handshake), but a proper message based communication protocol. This enables you to achieve huge performance and architecture advantages. For example, in node.js, you can share the same memory for different socket connections, so they can each access shared variables. Therefore, you don't need to use a database as an exchange point in the middle (like with AJAX or Long Polling with a language like PHP). You can store data in RAM, or even republish between sockets straight away.

安全注意事项

People are often concerned about the security of WebSockets. The reality is that it makes little difference or even puts WebSockets as better option. First of all, with AJAX, there is a higher chance of MITM, as each request is a new TCP connection that is traversing through internet infrastructure. With WebSockets, once it's connected it is far more challenging to intercept in between, with additionally enforced frame masking when data is streamed from client to server as well as additional compression, which requires more effort to probe data. All modern protocols support both: HTTP and HTTPS (encrypted).

P.S.

请记住，WebSockets通常有一个非常不同的网络逻辑方法，更像实时游戏，而不是http。

您省略的一个竞争技术是服务器发送事件/事件源。什么是长轮询、Websockets、服务器发送事件(SSE)和Comet?对所有这些都有很好的讨论。请记住，其中一些在服务器端集成起来比其他的更容易。

XHR polling A Request is answered when the event occurs (could be straight away, or after a delay). Subsequent requests will need to made to receive further events. The browser makes an asynchronous request of the server, which may wait for data to be available before responding. The response can contain encoded data (typically XML or JSON) or Javascript to be executed by the client. At the end of the processing of the response, the browser creates and sends another XHR, to await the next event. Thus the browser always keeps a request outstanding with the server, to be answered as each event occurs. Wikipedia Server Sent Events Client sends request to server. Server sends new data to webpage at any time. Traditionally, a web page has to send a request to the server to receive new data; that is, the page requests data from the server. With server-sent events, it's possible for a server to send new data to a web page at any time, by pushing messages to the web page. These incoming messages can be treated as Events + data inside the web page. Mozilla WebSockets After the initial handshake (via HTTP protocol). Communication is done bidirectionally using the WebSocket protocol. The handshake starts with an HTTP request/response, allowing servers to handle HTTP connections as well as WebSocket connections on the same port. Once the connection is established, communication switches to a bidirectional binary protocol which does not conform to the HTTP protocol. Wikipedia