TCP Server and Client in C++

This repository contains basic implementations of a TCP server and client using the Windows Sockets API (Winsock). These examples demonstrate how to set up a TCP server and client, including initialization, socket creation, binding, listening, and connection.

Features

• Server:

  • Initializes Winsock.
  • Creates a TCP socket.
  • Binds the socket to a specified IP address and port.
  • Listens for incoming connections.
  • Accepts a single client connection.
  • Basic error handling and cleanup.

• Client:

  • Initializes Winsock.
  • Creates a TCP socket.
  • Connects to a specified server IP address and port.
  • Basic error handling and cleanup.

Requirements

• Operating System: Windows
• Compiler: Microsoft Visual Studio or MinGW
• Library: Winsock2 (ws2_32.lib)

Build Instructions

Using Microsoft Visual Studio

1. Open the project in Visual Studio.
2. Ensure Ws2_32.lib is linked. This is typically done by including the following pragma directive in your code:

   #pragma comment(lib, "Ws2_32.lib")

3. Build and run the server and client projects separately.

Using MinGW

1. Open a terminal or command prompt.
2. Navigate to the directory containing your server.cpp and client.cpp files.
3. Compile the server:

   g++ server.cpp -o server -lws2_32

4. Compile the client:

   g++ client.cpp -o client -lws2_32

5. Run the server executable in one terminal:

   ./server

6. Run the client executable in another terminal:

   ./client

Server Code Overview

1. Initialize Winsock.
2. Create a TCP socket.
3. Bind the socket to a specific IP address and port.
4. Listen for incoming connections.
5. Accept a client connection.
6. Cleanup resources.

Client Code Overview

1. Initialize Winsock.
2. Create a TCP socket.
3. Connect to the server using the specified IP address and port.
4. Cleanup resources.