Book Image

Hands-On Network Programming with C# and .NET Core

By : Sean Burns
Book Image

Hands-On Network Programming with C# and .NET Core

By: Sean Burns

Overview of this book

The C# language and the .NET Core application framework provide the tools and patterns required to make the discipline of network programming as intuitive and enjoyable as any other aspect of C# programming. With the help of this book, you will discover how the C# language and the .NET Core framework make this possible. The book begins by introducing the core concepts of network programming, and what distinguishes this field of programming from other disciplines. After this, you will gain insights into concepts such as transport protocols, sockets and ports, and remote data streams, which will provide you with a holistic understanding of how network software fits into larger distributed systems. The book will also explore the intricacies of how network software is implemented in a more explicit context, by covering sockets, connection strategies such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and User Datagram Protocol (UDP), asynchronous processing, and threads. You will then be able to work through code examples for TCP servers, web APIs served over HTTP, and a Secure Shell (SSH) client. By the end of this book, you will have a good understanding of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) network stack, the various communication protocols for that stack, and the skills that are essential to implement those protocols using the C# programming language and the .NET Core framework.
Table of Contents (26 chapters)
Free Chapter
1
Section 1: Foundations of Network Architecture
6
Section 2: Communicating Over Networks
10
Section 3: Application Protocols and Connection Handling
15
Section 4: Security, Stability, and Scalability
21
Section 5: Advanced Subjects

Leveraging networks – transmitting packets for use by remote resources

To understand specifically what a packet is, we should first understand the constraints of a network that necessitates packets in the first place. To do that, we'll need to understand the limitations of bandwidth, latency, and signal strength. Each of these constraints plays a key role in determining the maximum size of an atomic unit of data that can be transmitted over a given network. These limitations demand that pieces of data transmitted over the network include a number of attributes to ensure any measure of reliability. Data packets sent between nodes in a network must be small, and contain sufficient context to be properly routed. With that in mind, let's look at the ways a network's physical limitations can inform and drive the software solutions written for them.

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