Morse Code over WebSockets: Build a Live Chat App That Speaks in Dots and Dashes
Text chat is instant, but it is also silent. Every message arrives fully formed, with no trace of the hand that typed it. Morse code is the opposite: you hear the rhythm of the person sending, the hesitation before a hard letter, the rush of a practiced fist. What if a chat app kept that human texture? In this article we will build a small live chat app where messages travel as Morse code over WebSockets β keyed by hand in the browser, beeped out loud on arrival, and decoded back into text for anyone who prefers to read.
No radio licence is needed. Nothing here transmits over the air. It is a web app, a weekend project, and a surprisingly good way to learn how real-time messaging actually works.
Why WebSockets, and why Morse?
A normal web chat polls the server: "anything new?" every few seconds. WebSockets flip that around β the server pushes each message to every connected browser the moment it arrives.β¦
