Node.js long poll logic help! - node.js

Question

I m trying to implement a long polling strategy with node.js
What i want is when a request is made to node.js it will wait maximum 30 seconds for some data to become available. If there is data, it will output it and exit and if there is no data, it will just wait out 30 seconds max, and then exit.
here is the basic code logic i came up with -
var http = require('http');
var poll_function = function(req,res,counter)
{
if(counter > 30)
{
res.writeHeader(200,{'Content-Type':'text/html;charset=utf8'});
res.end('Output after 5 seconds!');
}
else
{
var rand = Math.random();
if(rand > 0.85)
{
res.writeHeader(200,{'Content-Type':'text/html;charset=utf8'});
res.end('Output done because rand: ' + rand + '! in counter: ' + counter);
}
}
setTimeout
(
function()
{
poll_function.apply(this,[req,res,counter+1]);
},
1000
);
};
http.createServer
(
function(req,res)
{
poll_function(req,res,1);
}
).listen(8088);
What i figure is, When a request is made the poll_function is called which calls itself after 1 second, via a setTimeout within itself. So, it should remain asynchronous means, it will not block other requests and will provide its output when its done.
I have used a Math.random() logic here to simulate data availability scenario at various interval.
Now, what i concern is -
1) Will there be any problem with it? - I simply don't wish to deploy it, without being sure it will not strike back!
2) Is it efficient? if not, any suggestion how can i improve it?
Thanks,
Anjan

Answer 1

All nodejs code is nonblocking as long as you don't get hunk in a tight CPU loop (like while(true)) or use a library that has blocking I/O. Putting a setTimeout at the end of a function doesn't make it any more parallel, it just defers some cpu work till a later event.
Here is a simple demo chat server that randomly emits "Hello World" every 0 to 60 seconds to and and all connection clients.
// A simple chat server using long-poll and timeout
var Http = require('http');
// Array of open callbacks listening for a result
var listeners = [];
Http.createServer(function (req, res) {
function onData(data) {
res.end(data);
}
listeners.push(onData);
// Set a timeout of 30 seconds
var timeout = setTimeout(function () {
// Remove our callback from the listeners array
listeners.splice(listeners.indexOf(onData), 1);
res.end("Timeout!");
}, 30000);
}).listen(8080);
console.log("Server listening on 8080");
function emitEvent(data) {
for (var i = 0; l = listeners.length; i < l; i++) {
listeners[i](data);
}
listeners.length = 0;
}
// Simulate random events
function randomEvents() {
emitData("Hello World");
setTimeout(RandomEvents, Math.random() * 60000);
}
setTimeout(RandomEvents, Math.random() * 60000);
This will be quite fast. The only dangerous part is the splice. Splice can be slow if the array gets very large. This can be made possibly more efficient by instead of closing the connection 30 seconds from when it started to closing all the handlers at once every 30 seconds or 30 seconds after the last event. But again, this is unlikely to be the bottleneck since each of those array items is backed by a real client connection that probably more expensive.