The most common defi nition of socket is, ‘A socket is one endpoint of a two-way communication link
between two programs running on the network’. Put it differently, it is through sockets that applications
access the network and transmit data. The types of sockets are as varied as the purposes and platforms of
applications. There are three types of sockets: Unix domain sockets, Internet domain sockets and NS domain
sockets.
Of these, only Internet domain sockets are supported across all platforms. So to maintain the cross-
platform characteristics intact, Java supports only Internet domain sockets. ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month, and much more.