| Sockets are endpoints of communication between networks. Socket programming enables these endpoints to transmit data, thereby supporting communication between networks and programs. For beginners, socket programming is very important to understand how the network communicates. |
Sockets are endpoints of communication between networks. Socket programming enables these endpoints to transmit data, thereby supporting communication between networks and programs. For beginners, socket programming is very important to understand how the network communicates.
Socket programming has many benefits, such as helping real-time connections, and multiple programming languages can be used. One of the most popular programming language options is Python, which is a universal language that network professionals will use in their careers. José Manuel Ortega, author of "Mastering the Network and Security of Python", believes that although Python is not the only language that beginners of socket programming should learn, it has a variety of tools and modules to help process data packets and provide high-level and Low-level methods to deal with sockets.
The second edition of "Mastering the Network and Security of Python" explores the network and security of Python libraries and scripts , and explores aspects of HTTP and socket programming to help beginners learn.
What are the common problems that beginners have in socket programming?
José Manuel Ortega: For beginners, the most common problem is related to the utility of sockets. At a high level, what libraries can we use in programming languages (such as Python and C/C++), and At a lower level, it involves how the operating system uses it for communication between applications.
In the end, I don’t think it will depend to a large extent on the libraries used, depending on their programming language or operating system. Ultimately, it depends more on people's understanding of network and security concepts, and how to solve specific problems without knowing a library or specific language.
Languages such as libraries and Python can help you find solutions, but they can't provide you with solutions by themselves, because you need to understand the basic working principles of networks and protocols and operating systems. Then learn a certain library or programming language, which is not the most important thing.
If someone asks me more specifically about the libraries used in Python, I will recommend those libraries that I analyze in the book. Depending on your favorite language, you will have different choices. I suggest you try other languages with better performance, such as C/C++.
What are the benefits and challenges of socket programming for networking and security?
Ortega: From a network perspective, we can use sockets to deploy client-server applications-for example, chat applications. From a security perspective, sockets are used at a lower level to determine which ports the computer has opened, while typical port scanner tools (such as Nmap) use them at a lower level. They can also be used to connect to external servers-by using Reverse Shell , which is the same way we use the SSH [Secure Socket Shell] command .
The main challenge is whether requests can be made asynchronously. For example, through the python-socketio project, you can deploy clients, applications, and servers, and integrate with Python web frameworks (such as Flask).
What is the difference in socket programming from Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) to User Datagram Protocol (UDP)?
Ortega: The main difference between TCP and UDP is that TCP is connection-oriented. This means that it can guarantee that our data packet will reach the destination and send an error notification when the data packet fails to be delivered. On the other hand, UDP is suitable for applications that require efficient communication and do not have to worry about packet loss.
The main difference between using TCP and UDP in Python is that when creating a socket, you must use SOCK_DGRAM for UDP and SOCK_STREAM for TCP.
Why should web professionals use Python for socket programming instead of another language?
Ortega: Python provides the required socket modules to use sockets at high and low levels. The socket module provides all the necessary functions and can quickly write TCP and UDP clients and servers.
Python also provides other tools for processing network data packets, such as Scapy, which is a module written in Python for processing data packets that support multiple network protocols. This tool allows the creation and modification of various types of network data packets, and realizes the functions of capturing and sniffing data packets.
In addition, if we compare it with programs like C/C++, the learning curve is also very low.
What is driving the deployment of socket programming? Are there viable alternatives?
Ortega: The main advantage provided by sockets is that they have the ability to maintain the connection in real time, and we can send and receive data from one end of the connection to the other. For example, we can create our own client-server application that allows us to receive and send messages in real time, and process these messages in an asynchronous manner.
The main alternative to using sockets in Python is that we can find the module in the asyncio module, which allows us to execute asynchronous calls in parallel to initiate requests in parallel.