Using django channels to build real time applications
Table of Contents Introduction Main Concepts asgi Websockets Channel Implementation Chat Testing Final Thoughts This tutorial is for django developers who are comfortable with the primitives and want to build real time applications using django + channels. We’ll be building a minimal intercom clone(backend only) to simulate chat support provided to client websites who embed our widget for website visitors as illustrated Introduction Real time systems differ from traditional systems by the constraint of response time - typically they need to respond to changes in state immediately or within a guaranteed time frame, often dictated by the system’s operation requirements. Unlike traditional request-response systems, real time systems prioritise timely and predictable execution, often at the expense of throughput or flexibility. For ex in a ticket booking website like Ticketmaster, the typical request-response flow comprises of fetching all the available tickets for the user’s search criteria, booking them etc, all of which can tolerate brief delays. Contrast it with a real time system like a trading app where trades have to be executed immediately as soon as a request is made and execution time is a governing factor in the quality and success of this service. ...