Socket programming in Java is a way to enable communication between devices over a network. It allows two or more machines to exchange data through a client-server model, using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) or User Datagram Protocol (UDP). Sockets are endpoints for sending or receiving data, and Java provides classes like Socket (for clients) and ServerSocket (for servers) to facilitate this communication. For example, a server can listen for incoming connections using ServerSocket, while a client establishes a connection with Socket. This is commonly used for chat applications, file transfers, and real-time data streaming in Java-based systems.
