The essence of network programming is communication between programs over a network. The Essential Networking Module, part of the Rogue Wave product SourcePro Net, gives you a way to do network programming in C++. Using this module, you can quickly construct applications and systems that interact with clients and servers across a network.

The Essential Networking Module is a set of object-oriented classes that function as basic building blocks for network programming. These classes encapsulate networking abstractions like sockets, portals, and addresses, and integrate them with other C++ abstractions, such as streams.

Because the module is written in C++, its classes and methods fit your object-oriented designs and provide the benefits of the C++ language: type safety, error handling, and an intuitive interface.

The classes in the Essential Networking Module are used by all the modules in SourcePro Net. For example, when an HTTP client class in the Internet Protocols Module creates a connection to a Web server, it uses class RWSocketPortal from the Essential Networking Module. Many classes of the Secure Communication Module inherit from and reuse classes of the Essential Networking Module. It is the key to understanding the SourcePro Net product.