Book Image

Getting Started with WebRTC

By : Rob Manson
Book Image

Getting Started with WebRTC

By: Rob Manson

Overview of this book

WebRTC delivers web-based real-time communication and is set to revolutionize our view of what the Web really is. Streaming audio and video from browser to browser, as well as opening raw access to the camera and microphone, is already creating a whole new dynamic web. WebRTC also introduces real-time data channels that will allow interaction with dynamic data feeds from sensors and other devices. This really is a great time to be a web developer! Getting Started with WebRTC provides all of the practical information you need to quickly understand what WebRTC is, how it works, and how you can add it to your own web applications. It includes clear working examples designed to help you get started building your own WebRTC-enabled applications right away. Getting Started with WebRTC will guide you through the process of creating your own WebRTC application that can be applied in a number of different real-world situations, using well documented and clearly explained code examples. You will learn how to quickly and easily create a practical peer-to-peer video chat application, an audio only call option, and how a Web-Socket-based signaling server can also be used to enable real-time text-based chat. You will also be shown how this same server and application structure can easily be extended to include simple drag-and-drop file sharing with transfer updates and thumbnail previews.
Table of Contents (15 chapters)
Getting Started with WebRTC
Credits
About the Author
About the Reviewers
www.PacktPub.com
Preface
Index

Benefits that can be delivered


While there are still quite a few issues facing the introduction of WebRTC into an e-learning environment, the overall benefits are appealing and significant.

The benefits of the ease of use and removal of barriers for setting up an audio or video call or screen sharing session cannot be underestimated. This will drive more interpersonal interaction between educators and students, among students themselves, and even among educators themselves. This makes the overall e-learning environment more engaging and can lead to better learning outcomes and higher satisfaction levels.

The distributed peer-to-peer nature of WebRTC can also lead to some significant network and infrastructure cost reductions. While some media relay / TURN server infrastructure may be required today, this will be significantly less than using older video conferencing technologies. If you are able to just focus on capable, early adopters initially, then you may be able to skip this cost altogether...