Sockets

• Sockets first appeared in BSD UNIX (designed by Bill Joy—also one of the originators of Java) circa 1982.

• They provided a cross-protocol API for networking. The original implementation, for example, provided access to protocols including:

  • TCP/IP
  • Xerox NS
  • Local UNIX inter-process communication.

• Today available in Windows, through the WinSock API.

• Sockets directly support a client/server architecture.

• They support connection-oriented protocols like TCP, as well as connectionless protocols like UDP.

• We will only discuss the connection-oriented case.

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