The Linux Programming Interface

61SOCKETS: ADVANCED TOPICS

This chapter considers a range of more advanced topics relating to sockets programming, including the following:

• the circumstances in which partial reads and writes can occur on stream sockets;

• the use of shutdown() to close one half of the bidirectional channel between two connected sockets;

• the recv() and send() I/O system calls, which provide socket-specific functionality not available with read() and write();

• the sendfile() system call, which is used in certain circumstances to efficiently output data on a socket;

• details of the operation of the TCP protocol, with the aim of eliminating some common misunderstandings that lead to mistakes when writing programs that use TCP sockets;

• the use of the netstat ...