This is a very readable online book on networking and sockets: http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/output/html/multipage/index.html http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/output/htm

This is a very readable online book on networking and sockets: http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/output/html/multipage/index.html http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/output/html/multipage/index.html Talk about understanding the sockets API ;-) here's the content section for chapter 5: 5.1. getaddrinfo() — Prepare to launch! 5.2. socket() — Get the File Descriptor! 5.3. bind() — What port am I on? 5.4. connect() — Hey, you! 5.5. listen() — Will somebody please call me?