Socket programming is a way for two computers or programs to talk to each other over a network (like the internet or a local network).

beginner tutorial that I used here

More about socket programming here

Programming with TCP&IP sockets

There are a few steps involved in using sockets:

  1. Create the socket
  2. Identify the socket
  3. On the server, wait for an incoming connection
  4. Send and receive messages
  5. Close the socket