The Berkeley sockets API comprises a library for developing applications in the C programming language that perform inter-process communication, most commonly for communications across a computer network.
In computer networking, a socket is an endpoint of a bidirectional inter-process communication flow across an Internet Protocol-based computer network, such as the Internet.
A socket address is the combination of an IP address (the location of the computer) and a port (which is mapped to the application program process) into a single identity, much like one end of a telephone connection is the combination of a phone number and a particular extension.
The term is believed to have originated with the Berkeley Sockets API for Unix ca. 1983.
