Nagle

NOTE: This post discusses a specific problem which is solved by disabling Nagle's algorithm. Do not try this at home: Nagle's algorithm is implemented in TCP/IP stacks for a reason, and I'm told that 99% of programmers who disable Nagle's algorithm do so errantly due to a lack of understanding of TCP. Disabling Nagle's algorithm is not a silver bullet that magically reduces latency.

While developing an input-only VNC client for Android to act as a remote mouse and keyboard, I noticed that mouse pointer movements were particularly jerky when connecting to a computer running TightVNC. Connections to other VNC servers yielded relatively smooth pointer movements, and using the official TightVNC client to connect to the TightVNC server was also smooth. My VNC client was not alone with this problem—connecting to the TightVNC server using other VNC clients such as Chicken of the VNC also resulted in severe pointer jerkiness. What was special about the VNC connection between the TightVNC client and the TightVNC server that made it work so much more smoothly?