CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#.netnetwork-programmingwinsocksockets
tanasi
tanasi

Reputation: 1804

Network Programming Low Level or Class Abstraction?

I see a lot of questions on the topic of network programming. Despite all the questions and answers I just do not know which way is best to start. Is it better to start from the lowest level, or immediately to work in .NET C #, without going into details below abstraction? Is it better to go with Winsock or BSD Socket programming in Linux?

Upvotes: 1

Views: 1978

Answers (3)

jgauffin
jgauffin

Reputation: 101150

It all depends on your existing programming skills. I would not start with the lower levels such as the Socket class (or TcpClient/UdpClient) without having at least basic understanding of asynchronous programming.

A lot of people who starts with socket programming launches a separate thread for the reading since the Read method blocks. It's a very noneffective way to solve the problem, especially in servers. BeingRead/EndRead is the way to go.

Next up is designing a transfer protocol since TCP doesn't guarantee that the complete message is delivered at one. It only guarantees that your messages arrive in the correct order.

The next big thing with socket programming is how to handle incoming data. A newbie mistake is to start appending strings which would result in a lot of memory usage in server applications. Use byte[] buffers and a buffer pool (flyweight pattern) to manage incoming data (should be a easy task if you've made a well designed protocol).

As you can see, it' quite a big task to take on with no prior experience. WCF is a much better option since it handles most of that stuff for you.

Upvotes: 1

Liviu Mandras
Liviu Mandras

Reputation: 6627

.NET C#

You have:

  • low level API to work with TCP, UDP etc.
  • .NET Remoting
  • WCF (http, tcp, named pipes, MSMQ)

I would recommended last option but depends on what exaclty you are trying to learn: to build distributed apps or the nitty gritty details of low level socket API.

Upvotes: 1

Justin Ethier
Justin Ethier

Reputation: 134187

You can still do low-level TCP or UDP programming in C#, so at that point it is really just a matter of choice whether you want to write network code in C, C#, etc... If all you are trying to do is learn how to write network code, I would consider the language more of a personal choice as the underlying network concepts remain the same.

Upvotes: 1

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