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

How UDP sockets differ


The socket API for UDP sockets is only very slightly different than what we've already learned for TCP. In fact, they are similar enough that we can take the TCP client from the last chapter and turn it into a fully functional UDP client by changing only one line of code:

  1. Take tcp_client.c from Chapter 3An In-Depth Overview of TCP Connections, and find the following line of code:
hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM;
  1. Change the preceding code to the following:
hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_DGRAM;

This modification is included in this chapter's code as udp_client.c.

You can recompile the program using the same commands as before, and you'll get a fully functional UDP client.

Unfortunately, changing the TCP servers of the previous chapters to UDP won't be as easy. TCP and UDP server code are different enough that a slightly different approach is needed.

Also, don't assume that because we had to change only one line of the code that the client behaves exactly the same way – this won...