How does polling work ?

[OmG3r]

I have read this polling.js

however I didn't understand how does it function from the core (trying to port it to another languge)

 

my issue, is node-steam-tradeoffer-manager constantly sending requests HTTP to steam API in order to retrieve trade status (which sounds reaaaallllly inefficient) ? or there is a way to actually ask steam to send us data once a trade has been updated ( like a socket or something) ?

 

if it's HTTP based, I know how to implement it but if it's socket based please can you provide links to resources which I can read to properly understand how to use it/explain it

Edited April 27, 2018 by OmG3r

[Dr. McKay]

It's just normal polling. It polls (requests) the API on a timer to see if anything has changed. The only possibly more efficient way to do it is to connect to Steam as a client and listen for new incoming trade offers messages and items received messages. They don't tell you details about the trades though, so you need to hit the API anyway. And since they're not foolproof you need to poll on a timer anyway.