GNU Info

(gawkinet.info)Introduction

---

Next: Using Networking Prev: Preface Up: Top

---

Enter node , (file) or (file)node

Networking Concepts
*******************

   This major node provides a (necessarily) brief intoduction to
computer networking concepts.  For many applications of `gawk' to
TCP/IP networking, we hope that this is enough.  For more advanced
tasks, you will need deeper background, and it may be necessary to
switch to lower-level programming in C or C++.

   There are two real-life models for the way computers send messages
to each other over a network.  While the analogies are not perfect,
they are close enough to convey the major concepts.  These two models
are the phone system (reliable byte-stream communications), and the
postal system (best-effort datagrams).

Stream Communications

Sending data streams.

Datagram Communications

Sending self-contained messages.

The TCP/IP Protocols

How these models work in the Internet.

Making Connections

Making TCP/IP connections.