A network socket is network interface- an endpoint of an inter-process communication flow across a computer network. Today, most communication between computers is based on the Internet Protocol; therefore most network sockets are Internet sockets.
A socket API is an application programming interface (API), usually provided by the operating system, that allows application programs to control and use network sockets. Internet socket APIs are usually based on the Berkeley sockets standard.
A socket address is the combination of an IP address and a port number, much like one end of a telephone connection is the combination of a phone number and a particular extension. Based on this address, internet sockets deliver incoming data packets to the appropriate application process or thread.
Read more about Network Socket: Overview, Socket Types, Socket States and The Client-server Model, Socket Pairs, Implementations, Sockets in Network Equipment, See Also
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“How have I been able to live so long outside Nature without identifying myself with it? Everything lives, moves, everything corresponds; the magnetic rays, emanating either from myself or from others, cross the limitless chain of created things unimpeded; it is a transparent network that covers the world, and its slender threads communicate themselves by degrees to the planets and stars. Captive now upon earth, I commune with the chorus of the stars who share in my joys and sorrows.”
—Gérard De Nerval (1808–1855)