Operating Systems

Sockets

The socket abstraction as the OS sees it: a descriptor with buffers behind it, and the bridge into the Networking domain.

The question this module answers · What does the kernel actually give me when I call `socket()`?

The Socket: A Descriptor With Two Kernel Buffers Behind It

▶ interactive

When you call `socket()` the kernel hands you a descriptor and allocates a send buffer and a receive buffer behind it; `bind`/`listen`/`accept` and `connect` attach that descriptor to the network stack, and from then on the application only ever copies bytes into and out of those buffers.