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Networking Beginner

What is TCP vs UDP?

Two transport layer protocols: TCP provides reliable, ordered delivery while UDP provides fast, connectionless delivery without guarantees.

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) establishes connections, guarantees delivery, maintains order, and handles congestion. It is used for web browsing, email, file transfer, and SSH where reliability matters.

UDP (User Datagram Protocol) is connectionless, lightweight, and fast but does not guarantee delivery or order. It is used for video streaming, gaming, DNS queries, and VoIP where speed matters more than perfect reliability.

Related Terms

IPv6
The latest version of the Internet Protocol with 128-bit addresses, designed to replace IPv4 and solve address exhaustion.
OSI Model
The seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection model that standardizes network communication functions from physical transmission to application protocols.
IP Address
A unique numerical label assigned to each device on a computer network for identification and communication.
Port
A numbered endpoint (0-65535) that identifies specific processes or services on a networked computer for communication.
HTTPS Everywhere
The practice of securing all web traffic with TLS encryption, ensuring data integrity and privacy between browsers and servers.
NAT (Network Address Translation)
A method of mapping private IP addresses to public IP addresses, allowing multiple devices to share a single public IP.
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