Ask HN: Books on network programming patterns? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Books on network programming patterns?

32 pointsmgmeyers9 comments

Hello, HN!

I've recently been getting deeper into node.js for things other than your typical web app, and have encountered a topic I'm not familiar with: network programming. I am completely ignorant on the topic and seek some guidance.

Can anyone recommend any high-level books (or other resources) on network programming? For example, something that covers patterns like PUB/SUB, REQ/RES, Router/Dealer, etc.

Thanks in advanced!

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The classics for learning about network programming is the TCP/IP Illustrated series by W. Richard Stevens:

TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Volume-Addison-Wesley-...

TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 2: The Implementation http://www.amazon.com/TCP-IP-Illustrated-Implementation-Vol/...

TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 3: TCP for Transactions, HTTP, NNTP, and the UNIX Domain Protocols http://www.amazon.com/TCP-Illustrated-Vol-Transactions-Proto...

While they start at much lower level than generic patterns, they build the basis to understand the core of networking, and the the later books go into details about effective usage of the protocols.

The issue with those books is that even if you have read them, you might still have a hard time writing networking code as they don't talk about the patterns which is what I think OP wants to learn.

Since your example patterns seem to be informed by ZeroMQ, I recommend checking out the online 'zguide' book at http://zguide.zeromq.org/page:all.

If you are learning about networking, and not just using somebody else's library, Beej's guide is an excellent starting point:

http://beej.us/guide/bgnet/

You might find the books "C++ Network Programming, Volume I: Mastering Complexity with ACE and Patterns"[0] and "C++ Network Programming, Volume 2: Systematic Reuse with ACE and Frameworks"[1] useful. They talk about implementation of the "Adaptive Communication Environment" [2] which is an open-source project for network programming. Also, as nextos mentioned below, the "Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture" series.

[0] http://www.amazon.com/Network-Programming-Volume-Mastering-C...

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Network-Programming-Volume-Systematic-...

[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adaptive_Communication_Environm...

Just Open a Socket - Connecting Applications to Distributed Systems is a great talk to watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jytJXjI0oQU https://speakerdeck.com/seancribbs/just-open-a-socket-connec...

Other talks from ricon.io and the various Erlang conferences are great too, but those are more about distributed systems and not primarily network programming. But since you mentioned the ZeroMQ patterns that should be just what you want.

http://thinkdistributed.io/ http://ricon.io/ https://www.youtube.com/user/ErlangSolutions/videos

Enterprise Integration Patterns:

http://www.amazon.com/Enterprise-Integration-Patterns-Design...

http://www.eaipatterns.com/

Covers stuff like: RPC, messages, channels, etc.

Check out the Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture volumes.

You can also draw a lot of inspiration from the Erlang literature, and CTM.

Not directly answering your question, but: ZeroMQ is a network programming library that uses and encourages the use of "patterns". Take a look at the (excellent) ZeroMQ manual.

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