MSDN – Windows Networking

TCP/IP Programming Overview

The Windows TCP/IP stack provides a rich set of APIs for building robust networked applications. This guide covers the essential concepts, programming models, and best practices for developing with sockets, Winsock, and newer network APIs.

#include <winsock2.h>
#pragma comment(lib, "ws2_32.lib")

int main() {
    WSADATA wsa;
    WSAStartup(MAKEWORD(2,2), &wsa);
    // ... socket code ...
    WSACleanup();
    return 0;
}

// Resolve a server address (IPv4/IPv6)
struct addrinfo hints = {0}, *result;
hints.ai_family = AF_UNSPEC;
hints.ai_socktype = SOCK_STREAM;
getaddrinfo("example.com", "80", &hints, &result);
// ... connect using result ...
freeaddrinfo(result);

// Server side
HANDLE hPipe = CreateNamedPipe(
    L"\\\\.\\pipe\\MyPipe",
    PIPE_ACCESS_DUPLEX,
    PIPE_TYPE_BYTE | PIPE_READMODE_BYTE | PIPE_WAIT,
    1, 4096, 4096, 0, NULL);
ConnectNamedPipe(hPipe, NULL);
// ...

Key Concepts

• Blocking vs. Non‑blocking: Use ioctlsocket or overlapped I/O for non‑blocking operations.
• IPv4 vs. IPv6: Prefer AF_INET6 and sockaddr_storage for dual‑stack compatibility.
• Security: Enable TCP_NODELAY wisely and consider TLS encryption for sensitive data.
• Performance: Use WSARecv/WSASend with overlapped I/O for high‑throughput servers.

Further Reading

Explore the detailed topics in the left navigation pane or visit the official MSDN Winsock documentation for comprehensive guidance.