The classics for learning about network programming is the TCP/IP Illustrated series by W. Richard Stevens: TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols http://

The classics for learning about network programming is the TCP/IP Illustrated series by W. Richard Stevens: TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Volume-Addison-Wesley-Professional/dp/0321336313 http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Volume-Addison-Wesley-... TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2: The Implementation http://www.amazon.com/TCP-IP-Illustrated-Implementation-Vol/dp/020163354X http://www.amazon.com/TCP-IP-Illustrated-Implementation-Vol/... TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 3: TCP for Transactions, HTTP, NNTP, and the UNIX Domain Protocols http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Vol-Transactions-Protocols/dp/0201634953 http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Vol-Transactions-Proto... While they start at much lower level than generic patterns, they build the basis to understand the core of networking, and the the later books go into details about effective usage of the protocols.