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

External transceivers and modems


External transceivers and modems are available for Wi-Fi, cellular, Ethernet, Bluetooth, and any other protocol you can think of.

The following photo shows an industrial IoT device that uses a cellular modem:

In the preceding diagram, the lower circuit board implements the functionality of the device (monitoring cryogenic liquids, in this case). On this board, the power supply system, sensor electronics, and a low-cost, 16-bit microcontroller are found. A cellular modem is located on the top circuit board, which plugs into a socket on the lower board.

External modems often communicate with their host (microcontroller) through asynchronous serial. The protocols used vary considerably among systems.

One common protocol family for communicating with modems is the Hayes command set also called AT commands. These commands consist of short text-based messages. AT commands were more or less standardized for placing phone calls, but have been extended to managing internet...