Company
Date Published
Author
Oliver Carson
Word count
1562
Language
English
Hacker News points
None

Summary

Reaction time, the interval between stimulus presentation and response initiation, is a crucial element of human performance, with an average human reaction time being around 250 milliseconds. Factors such as stimulus type, intensity, complexity of response, individual differences, attention, practice, and environmental conditions can influence reaction time. The fastest human reaction times, notably observed in fighter pilots and elite gamers, can be as low as 100-120 milliseconds. Real-time applications, particularly in fields like online gaming, auctions, and e-learning, require low latency to ensure effective human interaction and performance, with latencies exceeding 100 milliseconds negatively impacting user experience. To meet these demands, developers often rely on platforms like PubNub to manage the messaging layer, allowing them to focus on creating engaging and responsive applications without the burden of maintaining real-time infrastructure.