System-level things that exist outside MC (like sockets and ports) are
defined and described quite well in a couple of resources I frequently
use:
http://www.whatis.com/
http://webopedia.internet.com/
I'm sure there are other sources out there as well.
Phil
Andu wrote:
>
> I think it's about time you took a deep breath....
>
> >How I wish I could get some documentation on the new socket related commands
> >in B2!
> >
> >Diving into to undocumented stacks and trying to figure out what parameters
> >are passed, and whether all the features are supported on all platforms can
> >be fun (when all goes well). Today I'm miserable, cos I'm going round in
> >circles -:)
> >
> >read from socket <s> [for | until <cond>] [with message <m>]
> >
> >OK, well it would be nice to find out what the definition and syntax of a
> >socket <s> was. Answer simple, click on the word socket for the definition,
> >and <s> for the syntax. But, after a number of days and lot's of very
> >helpful postings, I still don't know, and what's worse when I do no one else
> >will, (save the few people who would read the post).
>
> This is what I posted a few days ago
>
> One definition would be:
> "A socket is an endpoint for communication. Two cooperating sockets,
> one on the local machine and one on the remote machine, form a
> connection. Each of the two sockets has a unique address..."
>
> >
> >Am I moaning?
>
> You try to learn too much in one day...
>
> >Not the sort really, so I'm offering my services (not quite a
> >promiss), to improve on the "Metatalk Reference" stack.
> >
> >Back to the socket stuff...
> >
> >1) What is the differnece between a socket and a port? (opensockets()
> >returns 80 - which is the port I set but I can get lots of sockets opened on
> >this port, so...? Is this something to do with one of the mysterious
> >parameters passed to mc after you've issued and "accept..."
>
> Not easy to explain...You need to specify which port is open for business;
> if a client writes something to your address at that port you deal with it.
> The mysterious parameters you refer to are just instructions to MC what to
> do if some data comes at port X.
>
> >
> >mc ref states:
> >
> >The accept command accepts TCP connections or UDP datagrams from other
> >systems or processes and creates a new socket that can be used to read or
> >write to that other process or system. When one arrives, the specified
> >message is sent with a first parameter that is the IP address of the other
> >end of the socket. If it is a datagram, a second parameter containing the
> >actual data is also included.
> >
> >Well it's not a simple IP address as I know it it's got a "|" and big
> >number after it. Perhaps this is the elusive socket stuff? Not sure yet...
> >
> >Now let's look at "stdin"
> >
> >-------------------
> >mc ref states:
> >
> >The read command reads from a file or process specified by the expression
> ><name>, putting the characters read into the local variable "it". Note that
> ><name> is case sensitive on all platforms, so you must pass exactly the same
> >string passed to the open command.
> >
> >The constant stdin can also be used to read from MetaCard's standard input
> >on UNIX systems (stdin is opened by default, no need to open it with the
> >open command).
> >
> >The result will be set to the string eof when an end-of-file was encountered
> >during the read, or to an error message if some other error occured. An
> >empty result indicates a successful read.
> >---------------------
> >
> >Well, well... I wonder if "stdin" is case sensitive? And what is the syntax
> >to read from it? After lot's of experimentation, I got it so mc does not
> >complain, but does it work on the Mac? If not, I think I have a problem, as
> >I want to get the form data from a "POST" and that is supposed to go to
> >"stdin"? I think.
>
> To get the data from a POST you need to read the whole header since the
> actual POST parameters are at the end of it. I prefer to use forms with GET
> where the data is on the first line. IF I have time I'll try to post a
> sample script for POST.
>
> >
> >And read from socket...
> >
> >-------------------
> >mc ref states:
> >
> >The "read from socket" command is used to read data from a socket. Sockets
> >are always opened in binary mode and so any required data conversion must be
> >done in scripts. If the optional "message" parameter is supplied, a message
> >will be sent when the read completes, otherwise the read blocks until the
> >data has been read. If no "for" or "until" condition is supplied, the
> >message will be sent when any data arrives at the socket.
> >-------------------
> >
> >
> >Well as usual any help is appreciated, and I promise to write this up when I
> >figure it out. Still don't get this UNIX world. Lack of clarity and
> >documentation seem to be the norm. It's kind of "if you don't know, don't
> >ask" - present company excluded -:)
>
> Regards, Andu
--
Phil Davis
------------------
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
