LR>
  > CAn anyone please explain what "Sockets" is or are?  Who
  > implements "Sockets" - what companies.  Thanks much.
LR>

  Sockets are an IPC mechanism, that were invented for Berkeley UNIX.
  Although most people use them with TCP, UDP and IP, they are not
  limited to any one networking protocol.

  They are available from a wide range of vendors, for a wide range of
  platforms (mostly in TCP-UDP flavours).  IBM provides sockets and
  programmers' toolkit as an option in its TCP/IP for OS/2 product, for
  example.

  Sockets themselves are a programming abstract.  They represent the
  endpoints of network communication.   The sockets API supports
  creating sockets, attaching them one to another, and sending data
  between them.

  How the varying attach and detach methods behave, and how the data
  stream works, depends from the protocol for the individual socket at
  hand.  A socket using TCP provides a connection-based, reliable,
  bidirectional byte stream, much like a named pipe.  A socket using UDP
  provides a connection-based, unreliable, bidirectional message stream
  (i.e. message boundaries are preserved).

  For an authoritative reference on Berkeley sockets, read
  _The_Design_and_Implementation_of_the_4.3BSD_UNIX_operating_system_ by
  Karels, McKusick, Leffler, and Quarterman.  ISBN 0-201-06196-1.

  As I said, IBM provides a programmers' toolkit for sockets in its
  TCP/IP product.

  > JdeBP <
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