what is a socket? Is it a process?

Question

I am studying os concepts and I found socket as the end point of communication. Now what exactly is a socket? Is it a process through means of which a system communicates? Thanks in advance

Answer 1

From reading the Wikipedia article, I can see why you may be confused.

A socket is a virtual device. That is, it is a device that is written in software and has no physical device. Thus, you can read to and write from a socket, like you would do to a terminal.

Sockets work in pairs to communicate and are usually bidirectional. One reads to socket (A) and writes to socket (B) --- or ---- writes to socket (A) and reads from socket --- or --- switches back and forth.

Generally sockets are used for network communications. They can usually support multiple protocols (TPC/IP, UDP/IP, even DECnet--the gamut depends upon the underlying system).

Sockets can be used for interprocess communication on a single system as well.