Hussein Nasser: New Course Alert - Scalable Real-Time Backends with WebSockets

Designing scalable and efficient backend systems is a complex yet rewarding challenge. There's no single right way; every design has pros, cons, and limitations. A skilled engineer understands these limitations deeply and adapts the design to fit workflows, much like a sailor uses the wind to steer a ship despite its unpredictability.

Real-time backend applications, such as gaming, chatting, or mission-critical systems, require bidirectional communication protocols. Unlike HTTP's unidirectional request-response model, protocols like WebSockets allow clients and servers to send data anytime, enabling instant event updates.

WebSockets is a battle-tested, widely used protocol powering applications like ChatGPT, Discord, and many games. It’s natively supported in browsers, making it uniquely suited for real-time apps. While newer protocols exist, WebSockets’ maturity and versatility make it an excellent choice for scalable backend design.

This course is structured into three parts: 1) Deep dive into WebSocket internals—handshake, ping-pong, keep-alive, masking, and protocol design rationale. 2) Scaling WebSocket backends—using proxies, load balancers, and efficient connection management to handle high throughput. 3) Practical implementation—designing and building chat and gaming applications to explore IO and CPU intensive workflows.

Understanding both the strengths and limitations of WebSockets helps engineers build robust systems. The course emphasizes realistic expectations, discussing common challenges often overlooked in tutorials. By mastering these concepts, backend engineers can level up their skills and create scalable, real-time applications tailored to their specific needs.

Prerequisites include a solid foundation in backend engineering fundamentals. This knowledge supports grasping advanced concepts and layering scalable solutions effectively. Whether you’re passionate about system design or building high-performance real-time apps, this course offers comprehensive insights and hands-on experience.