Beej’s Guide to Network Programming Using Internet Sockets

Socket programming got you down? Is this stuff just a little too difficult to figure out from the man pages? You want to do cool Internet programming, but you don’t have time to wade through a gob of structs trying to figure out if you have to call bind() before you connect(), etc., etc.

Well, guess what! I’ve already done this nasty business, and I’m dying to share the information with everyone! You’ve come to the right place. This document should give the average competent C programmer the edge s/he needs to get a grip on this networking noise.

This is a little how-to guide on network programming using Internet sockets, or ‘sockets programming’, for those of you who prefer it. The sockets API, though started by the Berkeley folk, has been ported to many many platforms, including Unix, Linux, and even Windows. Unfortunately, it can be a little, um, ‘much’ to digest the API, but as long as you know some C or C++, this guide should springboard you into the realm of network programming with hopefully as little hassle as humanly possible!

This document has been written as a tutorial, not a complete reference. It is probably at its best when read by individuals who are just starting out with socket programming and are looking for a foothold. It is certainly not the complete and total guide to sockets programming, by any means.