On 13 Mar 2002, Ian Bicking wrote:

> TCP/IP and socket programming aren't quite the same thing -- I think
> people get fooled by TCP/IP, as it's not (in my experience) something
> you encounter except when debugging networks or writing low-level code.
> Some theory is useful, to understand what's going on, but you won't
> likely spend time dealing directly with TCP/IP.  Sockets are a
> abstraction ontop of TCP/IP -- something on socket programming would
> probably be more useful to you.

It depends... if all you're ever planning on doing is writing simple
servers, yes. But if you're going to delve any deeper into writing
networked code, even at a high level, understanding the stuff about how
TCP and UDP and multicast and what-not all work, and how they interact
with the lower layers (e.g., ARP) will ultimately give you more ways to
attack the problem space. And you'll be better able to make even "simple"
decisions like "TCP or UDP"? if you fully grok the differences and
understand how the performance, stability, and reliability of the lower
layers, and the operating system's stack, all play out.

But, then, I'm a slut when it comes to knowledge, so I like to think it's
all worth something, even if it ain't :)


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