Socket Programming | Client Server Communication | Chat Application

Socket Programming
Sockets provide the communication mechanism between two computers using TCP. A client program creates a socket on its end of the communication and attempts to connect that socket to a server.

When the connection is made, the server creates a socket object on its end of the communication. The client and the server can now communicate by writing to and reading from the socket.

The java.net.Socket class represents a socket, and the java.net.ServerSocket class provides a mechanism for the server program to listen for clients and establish connections with them.

The following steps occur when establishing a TCP connection between two computers using sockets −

The server instantiates a ServerSocket object, denoting which port number communication is to occur on.

The server invokes the accept() method of the ServerSocket class. This method waits until a client connects to the server on the given port.

After the server is waiting, a client instantiates a Socket object, specifying the server name and the port number to connect to.

The constructor of the Socket class attempts to connect the client to the specified server and the port number. If communication is established, the client now has a Socket object capable of communicating with the server.

On the server side, the accept() method returns a reference to a new socket on the server that is connected to the client's socket.