> Sync.rb works like this: the browser WebSockets to the server, and as Rails models change, templates get re-rendered on the server and pushed to the client. HTML rendered from the server would sign a tamper-proof subscription into the DOM for clients to listen to over WebSockets. The library provides JavaScript for the browser to run, but sync.rb programmers don't have to write any themselves. All the dynamic behavior is done server-side, in Ruby.
It sounds like Stimulus Reflex is essentially Sync v2 (today's libraries are able to accomplish Chris's original vision)
I think that's true? More platforms should invest in the "sync" vs. "render" abstraction, especially the platforms that have strong concurrency already.
A Big Phoenix idea though seems to be that you can take this a big step further: now that you're syncing, keep the state that you'd be attaching to React components serverside, and let sync update the front-end. It feels like a lot of the benefit you'd get out of a carefully-designed GraphQL API, but with none of the plumbing work.
I've been thinking about this too after doing a few LiveView projects but on occasions needing better interactivity on the front end than is easy with hooks and something like AlpineJS.
Many web front ends are built on the Elm architecture / Redux or my favourite, re-frame in Clojurescript land where the view is driven directly by the app state.
What I'd love to have would be the same LiveView connection, with one part of the state object on the server synced to one key in the global app state in the browser. You could keep the rest of the server data private, and the browser side can keep it's own state that's not needed on the server out of the way, but one part would always remain up to date.
Not sure if it would be 2 way sync, or more likely, send events back to the server and the updates would magically arrive on the syncd part of the app db. Events from server to client would also be useful.
It should be pretty efficient if it was diffed too. Phoenix LiveSync ;-)
It sounds like Stimulus Reflex is essentially Sync v2 (today's libraries are able to accomplish Chris's original vision)
https://docs.stimulusreflex.com/