Chapter 29.   Networking Basics

The next four chapters are about networked games.

This chapter runs through networking fundamentals (e.g. what are the client/server and peer-to-peer models?) and explains basic network programming with sockets, URLs, and servlets.

Chapter 30 is about online chat, the "hello world" of network programming. We look at three chat variants: one using a client/server model, one employing multicasting, and chatting with servlets.

Chapter 31 describes a networked version of the FourByFour application, a turn-based game which is a demo in the Java 3D distribution.

Chapter 32 revisits the Tour3D application of Chapter 18 (the robot walking about a checkboard landscape), and adds networking to allow multiple users to share the world. We also discuss some of the advanced issues concerning networked virtual environments (NVEs), of which NetTour3D is a simple example.

The structure of this chapter in more detail:

• descriptions of the core attributes of network communication;
• explanations of IP, UDP, TCP, network addresses, and sockets;
• overviews of the client/server and peer-to-peer models;
• four small client/server applications (sequential, threaded, nonblocking multiplexing, and UDP multiplexing);
• a small peer-to-peer application (UDP multicasting);
• the problem of firewalls, leading to URLs and servlets for HTTP tunneling;
• a brief word about some other kinds of Java networking.

Downloads

• The PDF file for the draft chapter (the old ch.18) (416 KB). Last updated: 16th June 2003.
  
• Zipped Source code (30 KB). Last updated: 19th April 2005. The book's code.
  

• Up to the Killer Game Programming in Java Index Page
• Back to Chapter 28.5. Playing Movies in a Java 3D World (Part 2)
• On to Chapter 30. Network Chat