In this chapter, we will begin to really start working with network programming. We will introduce the concept of sockets, and explain a bit of the history behind them. We will cover the important differences between the socket APIs provided by Windows and Unix-like operating systems, and we will review the common functions that are used in socket programming. This chapter ends with a concrete example of turning a simple console program into a networked program you can access through your web browser.
The following topics are covered in this chapter:
- What are sockets?
- Which header files are used with socket programming?
- How to compile a socket program on Windows, Linux, and macOS
- Connection-oriented and connectionless sockets
- TCP and UDP protocols
- Common socket functions
- Building a simple console program into a web server
