Preface
When I first started writing HTML code, I was excited. Here I was typing letters into the keyboard, each one giving the computer some instructions that it knew what to do with. I was excited that I was creating something and that these instructions allowed me to express my creativity. When I finally saved my work, fired up my browser, and loaded my page, I was in awe. I saw my name in big bold letters with a moving picture, called a GIF, of an animated fire.
The Web has certainly come a long way since then. This is largely due to the fact that it is not just a place to create something new, but also a platform to share and show this creativity to others. This powerful platform for creative expression is what powers the Web and keeps it growing faster than ever. It has become so popular that we are moving our entire lives onto it. Websites power your e-mail, entertainment, bank accounts, legal documents, taxes, and even parts of this book were written using web tools. It is the want to move our lives to the Web that drives the development of powerful, easy-to-use APIs, such as WebRTC.
WebRTC is one of the most substantial additions to the Web platform. It brings about an entire suite of new technologies, such as cameras, streaming data, and even an entirely new network protocol stack. It is amazing to not only see the amount of work going into the WebRTC API, but also to know that this is all free for use by any application developer out there.
The aim of WebRTC is to democratize real-time communication. Earlier, building even a smaller video communication application used to take months and involved custom engineering to make even the smallest of applications. However, now we can do it in half the time or even less. This also brings the open source community into real-time communication. You can find other examples of WebRTC in the world and look at how these applications are built by searching through the source code.
It is this creative expression and freedom provided by the Web that drives the motivations for this book. I am glad to have the chance to bring it to more people through my writing, and I hope to inspire others just as I was inspired the first time I built a web page. Writing this book is one of the largest and toughest things I have done in my career, but I am grateful for all the help I have had along the way.
If you are looking for the easiest way to create a new real-time experience and share this with others, then read this book. This book, along with all technical books, is just a way of continuing to drive people to create something even better on the Web. You will learn not just about how to use WebRTC, but also what powers it under the hood. This book serves as not just a learning tool, but also as an inspiration for creating something truly amazing.
