Java Networking Features

API Enhancements

• Changes and Enhancements in version 6
• Changes and Enhancements in version 5.0
• New Features and Enhancements in version 1.4
• Networking Release Notes for version 1.4.2

More Information

• Networking Overview (also available in PDF)
  Overview of networking facilities in java.net, including Addressing, Making TCP Connections, Sending/Receiving Datagram Packets via UDP, Locating/Identifying Network Resources, and Security.
  

• HTTP client API. The following articles describe features of the HTTP client API. (See java.net.HttpURLConnection for an overview).

  • URLConnection Caching API
    Detailed overview, with code samples, of the new cache management API.

  • Cookie Management
    Overview of how to deal with cookies, often used as an HTTP state management mechanism, in J2SE 5.0.

  • Http authentication
    Overview of how to use HTTP authentication, which schemes and protocols are supported, and the system properties that affect its behavior.

  • Persistent Connections
    Overview of the HTTP persistent connections (aka keep alive mechanisms), and the means to control them.

• Java Networking and Proxies
  In depth exploration, with code samples, of proxy management Java networking APIs including the newly introduced ProxySelector mechanism.

• IPv6 Support (also available in PDF)
  IPv6 support, including special IPv6 address types and dual-stack node.
  

• Networking Properties
  Descriptions of properties used by networking.
  

• Orderly Versus Abortive Connection Release in Java
  How to ensure orderly or graceful release of TCP connections in Networking applications.
  

• Extendable Socket and ServerSocket
  The design, rationale, and how to do it.
  

• Socket Options
  Support for popular BSD-style options in the java base classes.
  

• Socket Exceptions
  Subclasses of SocketException for finer granularity of handling network errors.