Winsock

Windows Sockets API (WSA) , whose name was shortened to Winsock . This is a technical specification that defines how Windows network software will access network services, including TCP / IP . It defines a standard interface between a client application (such as an FTP client or web browser ) and an external TCP / IP protocol stack. It is based on the Berkeley socket model API used by BSD to establish a connection between programs.

Content

Background

Early Microsoft operating systems, such as MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows , had network restrictions that were associated with the NetBIOS protocol. In particular, Microsoft at that time did not support working with the TCP / IP protocol stack. Several university groups and commercial firms, including MIT, FTP Software, Sun Microsystems, Ungermann-Bass and Excelan, presented their solutions for working with TCP / IP in MS-DOS, often as part of a hardware-software complex. Since the release of Microsoft Windows 2.0, others have joined these developers, such as Distinct and NetManage, who helped organize TCP / IP protocol support for Windows. The drawback that all of the above developers faced was that each of them used its own API (Application Programming Interface). Without a single standard programming model, it was difficult to convince independent software developers to create network programs that could work based on the implementation of the TCP / IP protocol stack of any of the developers. It became clear that standardization was needed.

The Windows Sockets API model was proposed by Martin Hall of JSB Software (later Stardust Technologies) as part of the BOF (Birds of a Feather) information group and agreed on the CompuServe network on BBS in October 1991. The first edition of the specification was written by Martin Hall, Mark Towfick of Microdyne (later Sun Microsystems), Jeff Arnold (Sun Microsystems), Henry Sanders and J. Alard of Microsoft, and with the participation of many other developers. There were questions about who to assign copyright, intellectual property rights. In the end, it was decided that the copyrights to the specification would belong to five authors as individuals.

Technology

Starting with Windows 2000, Winsock runs through the Transport Driver Interface ^[1] .

Specifications

Windows 8 Updates

Windows 8 includes RIO (Registered IO), which extends the capabilities of Winsock.

Notes

↑ Transport Driver Interface . MSDN Library . Microsoft (October 26, 2012). Date of treatment December 21, 2012. Archived December 27, 2012.

[1] Transport Driver Interface . MSDN Library . Microsoft (October 26, 2012). Date of treatment December 21, 2012. Archived December 27, 2012.