Institute of Information Science - University of Miskolc

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Socket communication

The client sends requests to the server over a TCP socket connection, and the server responds to these requests. Here are the basic steps involved in integrating software systems or components using TCP socket communication:

1. Select a protocol: TCP/IP is a common protocol for socket communication, but other protocols like UDP can also be used depending on the requirements.
2. Determine the message format: Decide on the format of the messages that will be exchanged between the client and server. This could be a simple text-based format or a more complex binary format.
3. Define the communication interface: Define the functions or APIs that will be used for communication between the client and server.
4. Create the server: Write the code for the server that listens for incoming client connections and handles incoming requests.
5. Create the client: Write the code for the client that connects to the server and sends requests.
6. Handle errors: Implement error handling mechanisms to ensure that communication errors are handled gracefully and do not cause the system to crash or become unstable.
7. Test and iterate: Test the system thoroughly and make any necessary changes or improvements to ensure that it is functioning correctly.

Features:

• Socket ::= IP address + (TCP/UPD) port number. A Socket is a combination of ip address and port number.
• TCP Sockets provides 'real-time' data transfer
  • binary data transfer but can be normal text or JSON, XML as well
  • no direct method sharing (can be implemented by hand)
  • TCP and UDP connections are possible. UDP is min 3 times quicker but one-way communication
• Persistent or On-Demand communication channel
  • because of connection time-loss usually persistent channels are better, but periodically 'ping' messages should be sent. (in order to avoid connection closing). In case of any problems reconnection is possible
  • in case of UDP channels an extra TCP channel is available for synchronizing - in online games
• Results in the fastest possible transmission:
  • Where the number of transactions per second up to ~ 50 transactions, there should have been applied. (20ms / sec transfer)