Thread: Socket programming - Question

Hi,

I want to start learning socket programming, I've talked to some programmers and they told me socket programming under linux is much easier and its not worth it to do network programming under windows, I'm just wondering, Should I learn winsock programming? or just install linux and learn how to use sockets under linux?

Thanks in advance.

Btw, I'm using Borland C/C++ compiler, And i code in C.

Socket programming on Linux has the same degree of difficulty as programming on windows. Just do a google search on "winsock tutorial" to learn how to use it.

http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/

For socket programming on Linux. It mentions the differences of Winsock too.

I would suggsest you learn on linux, you'll probably find it easier, you'll still learn all the concepts you need, you get to use symbolic links and a sane file structure and makefiles, and you can always go back to windows and see the differences.

Until you try to make the two work together, and all the little differences hit you in the face like a brick wall.

I didn't say they were the same, I said they were the same degree of difficulty.

The only real difference between the two is the error codes, and the calls the WSAStartup() and WSAShutdown(). It is very easy to write socket code which is compatible across platforms.