Book Image

Hands-On Network Programming with C

By : Lewis Van Winkle
Book Image

Hands-On Network Programming with C

By: Lewis Van Winkle

Overview of this book

Network programming enables processes to communicate with each other over a computer network, but it is a complex task that requires programming with multiple libraries and protocols. With its support for third-party libraries and structured documentation, C is an ideal language to write network programs. Complete with step-by-step explanations of essential concepts and practical examples, this C network programming book begins with the fundamentals of Internet Protocol, TCP, and UDP. You’ll explore client-server and peer-to-peer models for information sharing and connectivity with remote computers. The book will also cover HTTP and HTTPS for communicating between your browser and website, and delve into hostname resolution with DNS, which is crucial to the functioning of the modern web. As you advance, you’ll gain insights into asynchronous socket programming and streams, and explore debugging and error handling. Finally, you’ll study network monitoring and implement security best practices. By the end of this book, you’ll have experience of working with client-server applications and be able to implement new network programs in C. The code in this book is compatible with the older C99 version as well as the latest C18 and C++17 standards. You’ll work with robust, reliable, and secure code that is portable across operating systems, including Winsock sockets for Windows and POSIX sockets for Linux and macOS.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
Title Page
Dedication
About Packt
Contributors
Preface
Index

Hardware choices


When designing an IoT device, there are many choices for hardware. In many cases, these choices ultimately must be made based on the functionality of the device, and not on their connectivity options. Remember, IoT devices need to have a useful purpose besides just connecting to the internet.

Let's look at three options for hardware—single-board computers, microcontrollers, and Field-Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs).

Single-board computers

Single-Board Computers (SBCs) are complete computers built on a single circuit board. They include all the usual pieces of a functional computer—the Central Processing Unit (CPU), Random Access Memory (RAM), non-volatile storage, and input/output ports.

SBCs are capable of running full-featured operating systems. Linux is commonly used.

The Raspberry Pi Zero W, for example, is an SBC measuring just 2.6 by 1.2 inches. It has 512 MB of RAM built-in and uses a micro SD card for storage. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity is also included. The Raspberry...