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(gawkinet.info)Caveats

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Network Programming Caveats
===========================

   By now it should be clear that debugging a networked application is
more complicated than debugging a single-process single-hosted
application.  The behavior of a networked application sometimes looks
non-causal because it is not reproducible in a strong sense. Whether a
network application works or not sometimes depends on the following:

   * How crowded the underlying network is.

   * If the party at the other end is running or not.

   * The state of the party at the other end.

   The most difficult problems for a beginner arise from the hidden
states of the underlying network. After closing a TCP connection, it's
often necessary to wait a short while before reopening the connection.
Even more difficult is the establishment of a connection that
previously ended with a "broken pipe."  Those connections have to "time
out" for a minute or so before they can reopen.  Check this with the
command `netstat -a', which provides a list of still "active"
connections.