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Batching Wire-Cost Comparison

Run MicroSim in Fullscreen

Learning Objective

Compare individual-POST and batched-POST traffic patterns visually, recognizing how HTTP overhead amortizes as batch size grows.

  • Bloom Level: Analyze
  • Bloom Verb: Compare
  • Library: p5.js

Specification

The full specification below is extracted from Chapter 9: Bandwidth Optimization, Offline Queues, and Service Workers.

Type: interactive-infographic
**sim-id:** batching-wire-cost-comparison<br/>
**Library:** p5.js<br/>
**Status:** Specified

**Learning objective (Bloom — Analyzing):** Compare individual-POST and batched-POST traffic patterns visually, recognizing how HTTP overhead amortizes as batch size grows.

**Layout:** Two side-by-side timelines (top: "Individual POST", bottom: "Batched POST"); a side panel on the right shows numerical comparison.

**Visual elements:**

- Each timeline shows a sequence of HTTP request/response pairs over a 10-second window
- Individual POST: 30 request/response pairs, each with overhead bands shown distinctly from payload bands (different colors)
- Batched POST: 3 request/response pairs (10 statements each), each clearly larger but with the same overhead band
- Stacked bar at the right of each timeline showing total bytes broken into "overhead" and "payload"

**Interaction:**

- Slider: number of statements (5 – 100)
- Slider: batch size (1 – 50)
- Both timelines re-render to reflect the new values
- Side panel shows: individual total, batched total, percentage saved

**Default canvas:** 1000×550px, responsive.

Implementation: p5.js for the timeline rendering and animated re-layout on slider change.