About Servers and Clients

There are two distinct types of socket network applications: Server and Client.

Servers and Clients have different behaviors; therefore, the process of creating them is different. What follows is the general model for creating a streaming TCP/IP Server and Client.

Server

1. Initialize Winsock.
2. Create a socket.
3. Bind the socket.
4. Listen on the socket for a client.
5. Accept a connection from a client.
6. Receive and send data.
7. Disconnect.

Client

1. Initialize Winsock.
2. Create a socket.
3. Connect to the server.
4. Send and receive data.
5. Disconnect.

Note  Some of the steps are the same for a client and a server. These steps are implemented almost exactly alike. Some of the steps in this guide will be specific to the type of application being created.