socket

n 1: a bony hollow into which a structure fits

2: where something (a pipe or probe or end of a bone) is

inserted

3: a receptacle into which an electric device can be inserted

socket

The {Berkeley Unix} mechansim for creating a

virtual connection between processes. Sockets interface

{Unix}'s {standard I/O} with its {network} communication

facilities. They can be of two types, stream (bi-directional)

or {datagram} (fixed length destination-addressed messages).

The socket library function socket() creates a communications

end-point or socket and returns a {file descriptor} with which

to access that socket. The socket has associated with it a

socket address, consisting of a {port} number and the local

host's network address.

{Unix manual page}: socket(2).

(1995-01-31)