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In computing, Winsock (also Windows Sockets) is a specification that defines how Windows network software should access network services, especially TCP/IP.
Winsock intends to provide a single API to which both application developers and network software vendors should conform. For any particular version of Microsoft Windows, Winsock defines a binary interface (ABI) that guarantees an application conforming to the Winsock API will function in concert with any similarly conformant protocol implementation released by any network software vendor..
Winsock is based on BSD sockets, but provides additional functionality to allow the API to comply with the standard Windows programming model.
BSD The Berkeley sockets application programming interface (API) comprises a library for developing applications written in the C programming language that access a computer network.
Berkeley sockets (also known as the BSD socket API) originated with the 4.2BSD system (released in 1983) as an API, covered under the BSD license, for development of sockets. Only in 1989, however, could UC Berkeley release versions of its operating system and networking library free from the licensing constraints of the Open Group's copyright-protected UNIX operating system.
The Berkeley socket API forms the de facto standard abstraction for network sockets. Most other programing languages use a similar interface as the C API.
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