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(gawkinet.info)Using Networking

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Networking With `gawk'
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   The `awk' programming language was originally developed as a
pattern-matching language for writing short programs to perform data
manipulation tasks.  `awk''s strength is the manipulation of textual
data that is stored in files.  It was never meant to be used for
networking purposes.  To exploit its features in a networking context,
it's necessary to use an access mode for network connections that
resembles the access of files as closely as possible.

   `awk' is also meant to be a prototyping language. It is used to
demonstrate feasibility and to play with features and user interfaces.
This can be done with file-like handling of network connections.
`gawk' trades the lack of many of the advanced features of the TCP/IP
family of protocols for the convenience of simple connection handling.
The advanced features are available when programming in C or Perl. In
fact, the network programming in this major node is very similar to
what is described in books like `Internet Programming with Python',
`Advanced Perl Programming', or `Web Client Programming with Perl'.
But it's done here without first having to learn object-oriented
ideology, underlying languages such as Tcl/Tk, Perl, Python, or all of
the libraries necessary to extend these languages before they are ready
for the Internet.

   This major node demonstrates how to use the TCP protocol. The other
protocols are much less important for most users (UDP) or even
untractable (RAW).

Gawk Special Files

How to do `gawk' networking.

TCP Connecting

Making a TCP connection.

Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting TCP/IP connections.

Interacting

Interacting with a service.

Setting Up

Setting up a service.

Email

Reading email.

Web page

Reading a Web page.

Primitive Service

A primitive Web service.

Interacting Service

A Web service with interaction.

Simple Server

A simple Web server.

Caveats

Network programming caveats.

Challenges

Where to go from here.