Java Distributed Computing

Chapter 2. Networking in Java

We saw in Chapter 1 how the socket and stream classes in the java.net and java.io packages could be used to do basic networking between agents. In this chapter we take a more detailed look at the networking support in Java, as the foundation for distributed systems. The topics we’ll cover include:

• Sockets for low-level network connections

• Streams for formatted data and messaging protocols

• URL, URLConnection, and ContentHandler classes

• The ClassLoader as an object distribution scheme

We’ll look at these topics in increasing pecking order from the networking perspective. Sockets first, since they are the most primitive communication object in the Java API; then streams, which let you impose some order on the data flowing over these sockets; next, the classes associated with the HTTP protocol, namely, the URL, URLConnection, and ContentHandler classes; finally, the ClassLoader, which, when coupled with the others, offers the ability to transmit actual Java classes over the wire.