TheLinuxGurus.org: Linux Socket Programming by Example [Book Review]

[ Thanks to David Culp
for this link. ]

“I have wanted to learn socket programming for quite sometime
now. I have always had this idea of making a clone of the
board-game “Starfleet Battles” for Linux. Of course it could not be
called Starfleet Battles and of course it could not use the same
rules but the concept would be similar, a massive starship tactical
war game played over a network. I lacked any experience at network
programming however and until recently had not done much with Linux
graphics programming. Well, I went off and learned SVGA programming
under Linux and now I have learned basic socket programming, so I
guess I have no more excuses (except I cannot draw!!). This book
really helped me grasp socket programming through its explanations
and example code. The book only covers socket programming in C, you
are expected to already be familiar with C before beginning the
book.”

“Each chapter in structured in the same general way,
concepts/functions are introduced with a discussion of how each
works and why the function is needed. One the relevant concepts and
functions are introduced with through explanations they are used in
an example program. The example program is then broken down on
a nearly line by line basis and completely explained. I found the
example code to be highly readable and straightforward, no tricks
here. The pattern then repeats itself until the end of the book.
All the example programs are stand-alone programs, no code snippets
and incomplete examples. The final chapter presents a complete
network project from planning to completion. The example is a stock
quote client and server. The server retrieves a list of stock
quotes from a source and the clients can connect to the server to
retrieve those quotes. There is no CD-ROM included with the book,
however all of the books example code can be downloaded from
http://www.mcp.com/que/sourcecode_que.cfm?item=0789722410 NOT from
http://www.quecorp.com/series/by_example/ as stated in the
book.”

Complete
Story