Yes, but it's still how the overwhelming majority of network code functions. It's not really till the rise of libev/libuv and friends that people start moving to non-blocking as a default

It's also how all non-blocking I/O worked prior to languages adding native async functionality.

Meh. AOLServer showed that you could do better back when I was in high school. I've given up worrying about ecosystems that haven't got it yet.