which language is better for packet capturing and processing

Question

I want to write a program that has 2 threads , one thread continuously captures packets from the network and dumps them in a buffer every t seconds and the other thread continuously reads this buffer and processes it every t seconds.. Can this be done in C ? or will Java be a better option ?

Answer 1

C and libpcap

Answer 2

The answer here is the famous "libpcap". Use your favourite language as long as there is a good libpcap wrapper available for it.

• C/C++ is of course a perfect choice if you like it since you don't need any wrapper.
• JNetPcap (http://jnetpcap.com/) is a java winpcap/libpcap wrapper
• Sharpcap (http://www.codeproject.com/KB/IP/sharppcap.aspx?msg=2472909) is a C# libpcap parser. I did some stuff with it some times ago.
• ...

So pick your language, check the existence of the wrapper and go on. If there is no wrapper for this language, either change your choice, or create your own wrapper