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

IoT protocols


Most IoT devices work by sending their data to a few central servers—the cloud. These servers process and store the IoT device data and allow remote access and configuration.

For example, take a smart thermostat. It continuously sends temperature data to a central server. This server stores the data. If a user wants to view the data, they connect their personal computer or smartphone to that central server. They don't connect directly to the IoT device itself. When they want to change their thermostat settings, they send this change to the central server, which then relays it to the IoT thermostat.

The following diagram illustrates this concept:

In the preceding diagram, note that all communication goes through the server. There is never direct communication from the smartphone to the IoT device.

Using a central server has several advantages. It allows the IoT device to do much less processing. The server can further process that data and format it into graphs and such. The server...