Winsock - A Brief Overview Of Winsock

Winsock is the shortened term for what was originally called Windows Sockets API

. This is a technical specification that details how the Windows operating system is to use its network software to communicate with various network services like the Internet and other similar services. The most popular network service that Windows Sockets lays out specifications for is TCP/IP, which stands for transmission control protocol and internet protocol. It is a group of communication protocols used most commonly with the Internet. Windows Sockets lays out detailed specifications for the interface between TCP/IP clients like an FTP program or a web browser, and the TCP/IP protocol stack.

The structure of Winsock is based on a model known as the Berkeley sockets API, or BSD sockets for short. Windows Sockets has additional features that are not present in BSD sockets, as the Berkeley version works on a UNIX platform, and Winsock works on the Microsoft Windows platform. Due to the differences between the two platforms, some of the features were not able to be ported over correctly with problems popping up. Windows sockets increased the number of functions that were available in BSD sockets by presenting asynchronous sockets that were non-blocking.

Winsock was meant to be as easy as possible for developers to port over network applications that were already created on a UNIX platform to the Windows platform. The five guys who came up with the idea of a standardized networking protocol wanted to make it on developers so that they did not have to create new programs from scratch to work with Windows. Windows Sockets was created with the purpose of porting already coded network applications over to Windows in mind. Developers soon found out that many of the TCP/IP features were unique to a UNIX system and would not port over to a Windows system without significant problems. So after a short time, they gave trying to port the programs over and just decided to create Windows specific applications from scratch.

The creation of Winsock can be attributed to a man named Martin Hall, worked with JSB Software, He posted on a CompuServe BBS back in October 1991 and along with 4 others, Mark Towfiq, Geoff Arnold, Henry Sanders, and J. Allard, came up with the idea of a standardized network protocol. The specifications they came up, they had copyrighted to the five of them to avoid any copyright, IP or anti-trust issues from coming up down the road.

by: Troy Truman

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