Computer network programming involves writing
computer programs
A computer program is a sequence or set of instructions in a programming language for a computer to Execution (computing), execute. It is one component of software, which also includes software documentation, documentation and other intangibl ...
that enable
processes to communicate with each other across a
computer network
A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...
.
Connection-oriented and connectionless communications
Very generally, most of communications can be divided into
connection-oriented, and
connectionless. Whether a communication is connection-oriented or connectionless, is defined by the
communication protocol
A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics (computer science), sem ...
, and not by . Examples of the connection-oriented protocols include and , and examples of connectionless protocols include , "raw IP", and .
Clients and servers
For connection-oriented communications, communication parties usually have different roles. One party is usually waiting for incoming connections; this party is usually referred to as "
server
Server may refer to:
Computing
*Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides requested information for other programs or devices, called clients.
Role
* Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending custome ...
". Another party is the one which initiates connection; this party is usually referred to as "
client
Client(s) or The Client may refer to:
* Client (business)
* Client (computing), hardware or software that accesses a remote service on another computer
* Customer or client, a recipient of goods or services in return for monetary or other valuable ...
".
For connectionless communications, one party ("server") is usually waiting for an incoming packet, and another party ("client") is usually understood as the one which sends an unsolicited
packet to "server".
Popular protocols and APIs
Network programming traditionally covers different layers of
OSI/ISO model (most of application-level programming belongs to L4 and up). The table below contains some examples of popular protocols belonging to different OSI/ISO layers, and popular APIs for them.
See also
*
Software-defined networking
Software-defined networking (SDN) is an approach to network management that uses abstraction to enable dynamic and programmatically efficient network configuration to create grouping and segmentation while improving network performance and monit ...
*
Infrastructure as code
*
Site reliability engineering
*
DevOps
DevOps is the integration and automation of the software development and information technology operations. DevOps encompasses necessary tasks of software development and can lead to shortening development time and improving the development life ...
References
* W. Richard Stevens:
UNIX Network Programming
Unix Network Programming is a book written by W. Richard Stevens. It was published in 1990 by Prentice Hall and covers many topics regarding UNIX networking and Computer network programming. The book focuses on the design and development of networ ...
, Volume 1, Second Edition: Networking APIs: Sockets and XTI, Prentice Hall, 1998,
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Computer networks engineering
Computer programming
Inter-process communication