What is a socket?

What is a socket?

● Socket: An interface between an application
process and transport layer
– The application process can send/receive messages
to/from another application process (local or
remote)via a socket
● In Unix jargon, a socket is a file descriptor – an
integer associated with an open file
● Types of Sockets: Internet Sockets, unix sockets,
X.25 sockets etc
– Internet sockets characterized by IP Address (4 bytes),
port number (2 bytes)