TCP .NET (How It Works For Developers)

1. Dependability

Sequence numbers, acknowledgments, and retransmissions are only a few of the techniques that TCP uses to guarantee dependable data delivery. A sender delivers data packets and then waits for the recipient to acknowledge the packet as successfully delivered. To make sure the data packet is delivered, the sender retransmits it if an acknowledgment is not received in a predetermined amount of time. This reliability mechanism aids in avoiding transmission-related data loss or corruption.

2. Connection-Oriented Communication

Before sending data, TCP protocol creates a connection between the sender and the recipient. In order to establish synchronization and decide on communication settings, the sender and receiver engage in a three-way handshake process during the connection setup. Data can be transferred back and forth between the parties until the connection is broken.

3. Flow management

To manage the speed at which data is sent from the sender to the recipient, TCP uses flow control methods. Flow control uses sliding window methods to stop the sender from sending too much data to the recipient. The sender can modify its transmission rate by responding to the receiver's advertisement of its available buffer space. By doing this, network resources are used effectively and congestion or buffer overflow is avoided.

TCP code is divided into two parts: one is the server, and another is the client. The server code sends the message to the client using the IP address and port, and the client receives the data and processes accordingly.

TCP server code

// Basic TCP Server Code in C#
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.IO;

class TcpServer
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Set up the server endpoint with localhost IP address and a specified port
        var endPoint = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1"), 57472);

        // Create a new TcpListener and start listening for incoming connections
        TcpListener listener = new TcpListener(endPoint);
        listener.Start();
        Console.WriteLine("Server listening...");

        // Accept a TcpClient once a connection attempt is made
        TcpClient client = listener.AcceptTcpClient();
        Console.WriteLine("Client connected");

        // Obtain a NetworkStream object for reading and writing data
        NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();
        StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(stream);

        // Write a message to the client's stream and flush to ensure it's sent
        writer.WriteLine("Hello from the server");
        writer.Flush();

        Console.WriteLine("Message sent from server");
        // Close the client connection
        client.Close();

        // Stop the server listener after communication
        listener.Stop();
    }
}

// Basic TCP Server Code in C#
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.IO;

class TcpServer
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Set up the server endpoint with localhost IP address and a specified port
        var endPoint = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1"), 57472);

        // Create a new TcpListener and start listening for incoming connections
        TcpListener listener = new TcpListener(endPoint);
        listener.Start();
        Console.WriteLine("Server listening...");

        // Accept a TcpClient once a connection attempt is made
        TcpClient client = listener.AcceptTcpClient();
        Console.WriteLine("Client connected");

        // Obtain a NetworkStream object for reading and writing data
        NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();
        StreamWriter writer = new StreamWriter(stream);

        // Write a message to the client's stream and flush to ensure it's sent
        writer.WriteLine("Hello from the server");
        writer.Flush();

        Console.WriteLine("Message sent from server");
        // Close the client connection
        client.Close();

        // Stop the server listener after communication
        listener.Stop();
    }
}

In this server code, we are creating a TCP server code that will send the data packets to the connected client. The server accepts incoming connections and sends a message through the TCP socket.

TCP Client code

// TCP client code
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.IO;

class TcpClientExample
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Set up the client to connect to the same endpoint as the server
        var endPoint = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1"), 57472);

        // Initialize a new TcpClient and connect to the server endpoint
        TcpClient client = new TcpClient();
        client.Connect(endPoint);

        // Use a NetworkStream to read data received from the server
        NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();
        StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream);

        // Read the response sent by the server and display it
        string response = reader.ReadLine();
        Console.WriteLine($"Message from server: {response}");

        // Close the connection once done
        client.Close();
    }
}

// TCP client code
using System;
using System.Net;
using System.Net.Sockets;
using System.IO;

class TcpClientExample
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // Set up the client to connect to the same endpoint as the server
        var endPoint = new IPEndPoint(IPAddress.Parse("127.0.0.1"), 57472);

        // Initialize a new TcpClient and connect to the server endpoint
        TcpClient client = new TcpClient();
        client.Connect(endPoint);

        // Use a NetworkStream to read data received from the server
        NetworkStream stream = client.GetStream();
        StreamReader reader = new StreamReader(stream);

        // Read the response sent by the server and display it
        string response = reader.ReadLine();
        Console.WriteLine($"Message from server: {response}");

        // Close the connection once done
        client.Close();
    }
}

In the above client code, which connects to the TCP socket and reads the string message received from the TCP server, it then displays the message on the console. This example illustrates basic TCP client-server communication in a .NET environment.