Microsoft® Visual J#™ .NET (Core Reference)

Connectivity and Data Formats

One major feature of distributed systems is that they are distributed—that is, components reside at different locations on different computers. These components and other pieces of software, such as a Web browser or a database server, need to communicate with each other across process boundaries. This communication is made possible by the middleware, formats, and protocols that components use. Another interesting challenge is that you might have to integrate a number of legacy components that still perform their tasks perfectly well—discarding and rewriting them in order to use new technologies might not be a cost-effective option.

Sockets

The great-granddaddy of connection mechanisms is the socket. Most modern connectivity ...