So, your program would provide something like file transfer, an ongoing
data stream, or event notification?  (Admittedly, the lines between the 3
get a little blurry if you look too closely...(^&)

Or would it be a library to aid certain classes of applications do common
things?  (My brother, using MS-WINDOWS, mentions something called
DirectPlay that apparently provides a simplified network interface for
game developers so that one can go to a connection-server, chat, set-up
(or join) a game, and synchronize players.  None of those tasks being
innovative, but requiring a certain amount of work and code to handle.)

You might check out the NetBSD pkgsrc, too.  Similar things may already
exist.  If so, this may help you in various ways...


From the sound of it, you're already reading about BSD sockets, so I'll
just comment (in case you weren't aware) that the NetBSD manual includes
information about sockets as well (including the NetBSD implementation
thereof).  On a NetBSD machine, type ``man 2 socket'' or ``man socket'' to
read the section 2 manual page on socket() (socket(2)).

If you are new to UNIX-like systems, as it sounds like, see also the
man(1) and apropos(1) pages.


Hopefully that's at least a little bit helpful.  If you can say a little
bit more about the type of service that you wish to write software for,
perhaps some more help can be given.

Good luck.


  "I probably don't know what I'm talking about." --rauch@eecs.ukans.edu