Copyright notice
Copyright (C) 2001 Wim Bokkers

Permission is granted to use and distribute this library as long as the copyright and this permission notice appear and provided that no changes are made in any respect without contacting the author about these changes. Any suggestions? Please send me an e-mail with your name and e-mail address. My e-mail address can be found in each source file.
Introduction
SimpleSocket is a C++ library making socket based client/server programming easier. The library consists of the classes Socket and ServerSocket. These classes can be used in a similar way as the Java classes of the same name. It makes use of C++ stream to send data to and fro. SimpleSocket has been tested in the GNU cygwin environment on both Windows98 and Windows NT4 and on a Silicon Graphics Origin200 (IRIX 6.5). The library is expected to work on Linux or other Unix variants, with few changes. SimpleSocket makes use of the SimpleException and SimpleMessage libraries. These libraries can also be used for other purposes.
Installation
Download the SimpleSocket library and save it to a new directory. In this directory type the following: 
   %gunzip SimpleSock.tar.gz
   %tar xf SimpleSock.tar
The following files are extracted from the archive: 
   SimpleSock.cpp     SimpleSock.h        SimpleException.h
   ssock_client.cpp   ssock_server.cpp    SimpleMessage.h
   Makefile           Makefile.cygwin     Makefile.sgi
If you use the cygwin environment, type: 
   %cp Makefile.cygwin Makefile
If you use the SGI MIPSPRO C++ compiler on IRIX, type: 
   %cp Makefile.sgi Makefile
On other platforms you may need to make changes to one of these makefiles.

Make the SimpleSocket library, the test server (ssock_server) and the test client (ssock_client): 
   %make
Test the library
To test the library, run the server (in the background) and the client: 
   %ssock_server&

   %ssock_client
Create your own client/server apps
After taking a look at the make files and the sources, it should be clear how to make your own socket based client/server applications. Make sure that you use exceptions to catch errors. If your server has to handle more than one client, you probably need to use threads. Good luck!