Professional C# 2012 and .NET 4.5

Chapter 46

Peer-to-Peer Networking

WHAT’S IN THIS CHAPTER?

• Learning about P2P
• Using the Microsoft Windows 8 P2P Networking platform
• Registering and Resolving Peer Names
• Sending and receiving messages across peers
• Building P2P applications with the .NET Framework

WROX.COM CODE DOWNLOADS FOR THIS CHAPTER

You can find the wrox.com code downloads for this chapter at http://www.wrox.com/remtitle.cgi?isbn=1118314425 on the Download Code tab. The code for this chapter contains this major example:

• P2PSample

PEER-TO-PEER NETWORKING OVERVIEW

Peer-to-peer networking, often referred to as P2P, is perhaps one of the most useful and yet misunderstood technologies to emerge in recent years. When people think of P2P, they usually think of one thing: sharing music video, software, and other files, often illegally. This is because file-sharing applications such as BitTorrent have risen in popularity at a staggering rate, and these applications use P2P technology to work.

Although P2P is used in file-sharing applications, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have other applications. Indeed, as you see in this chapter, you can use P2P for a vast array of applications, and it is becoming more important in the interconnected world in which you live. You learn about this in the first part of this chapter, when you look at an overview of P2P technologies.

Microsoft has not been oblivious to the emergence of P2P and has been developing its own tools and technologies to use it. You can use the Microsoft Windows ...