Students Save 30%!

Save Now 


d e t se e t

CODE > PYTHON

Introduction to Network Programming in Python

by Esther Vaati 25 Apr 2018
Di culty: Advanced Length: Short Languages: English

Python



This tutorial will give an introduction to sockets in Python and how to use the socket module to
build HTTP servers and clients in Python. It will also cover Tornado, a Python networking library
which is ideal for long polling, WebSockets, and other applications that require a long-lived
connection to each user.

What Are Sockets?

A socket is a link between two applications that can communicate with one another (either
locally on a single machine or remotely between two machines in separate locations).

Basically, sockets act as a communication link between two entities, i.e. a server and a client. A
server will give out information being requested by a client. For example, when you visited this
page, the browser created a socket and connected to the server.

The socket Module

In order to create a socket, you use the socket.socket() function, and the syntax is as simple as:

1 import socket
2 s= socket.socket (socket_family, socket_type, protocol=0)

Here is the description of the arguments:

 socket_family: Represents the address (and protocol) family. It can be either AF_UNIX or
AF_INET.
socket_type: Represents the socket type, and can be either SOCK_STREAM or
SOCK_DGRAM.
protocol: This is an optional argument, and it usually defaults to 0.

After obtaining your socket object, you can then create a server or client as desired using the
methods available in the socket module.

Create a Simple Client

Before we get started, let's look at the client socket methods available in Python.

s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)

s.connect() : Initiates a TCP server connection.

To create a new socket, you rst import the socket method of the socket class.

1 import socket

Next, we'll create a stream (TCP) socket as follows:

1 stream_socket = socket.socket( socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM )

The AF_INET  argument indicates that you're requesting an Internet Protocol (IP) socket,
speci cally IPv4. The second argument is the transport protocol type SOCK_STREAM  for TCP
sockets. Additionally, you can also create an IPv6 socket by specifying the socket AF_INET6

argument.

Specify the server.

1 server = "localhost"

Specify the port we want to communicate with.

1 port =80

Connect the socket to the port where the server is listening.

 1 server_address = ((host, port))
2 stream_socket.connect(server_address)

It's important to note that the host and port must be a tuple.

Send a data request to the server:

1 message = 'message'
2 stream_socket.sendall(message)

Get the response from the server:

1 data = sock.recv(10)
2 print data

To close a connected socket, you use the close method:

1 stream_socket.close()

Below is the full code for the Client/Server.

01 import socket
02 import sys
03
04 # Create a TCP/IP socket
05 stream_socket = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
06
07 # Define host
08 host = 'localhost'
09
10 # define the communication port
11 port = 8080
12
13 # Connect the socket to the port where the server is listening
14 server_address = ((host, port))
15
16 print "connecting"
17
18 stream_socket.connect(server_address)
19
20
21 # Send data
22 message = 'message'
23 stream_socket.sendall(message)
24
25 # response
26 data = stream_socket.recv(10)
27 print data
28
29
30 print 'socket closed'
31 stream_socket.close()
Build a Simple Server
Now let's take a look at a simple Python server. The following are the socket server methods
available in Python.

s = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)

s.bind() : Binds address (hostname, port number) to socket.

s.listen() : Sets up and starts TCP listener.
s.accept() : Accepts TCP client connection.

We will follow the following steps: 

Create a socket.
Bind the socket to a port.
Start accepting connections on the socket.

Here is the server program.

01 import socket
02 import sys
03
04 # Create a TCP/IP socket
05 sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
06
07 # Define host
08 host = 'localhost'
09
10 # define the communication port
11 port = 8080
12
13 # Bind the socket to the port
14 sock.bind((host, port))
15 # Listen for incoming connections
16 sock.listen(1)
17
18 # Wait for a connection
19 print 'waiting for a connection'
20 connection, client = sock.accept()
21
22 print client, 'connected'
23
24 # Receive the data in small chunks and retransmit it
25
26 data = connection.recv(16)
27 print 'received "%s"' % data
28 if data:
29
30 connection.sendall(data)
31 else:
32 print 'no data from', client
 33
34
35 # Close the connection
36 connection.close()

The server is now ready for incoming connections.

Now run the client and server programs in separate terminal windows, so they can communicate
with each other.

Server Output

1 $ python server.py
2 waiting for a connection
3 ('127.0.0.1', 47050) connected
4 received "message"

Client Output

1 $ python client.py
2 connecting
3 message
4 socket closed

The Tornado Framework

The Tornado framework is one of the libraries available for network programming in Python. In
this section, we will discuss this library and show how to use it to build WebSockets.

Tornado is a Python web framework and asynchronous networking library. Tornado uses the non-
blocking network I/O, and hence is capable of scaling to tens of thousands of open connections.
This trait makes it ideal for long polling, WebSockets, and other applications that require a long-
lived connection to each user.

Let's create a simple Tornado WebSocket:

01 import tornado.ioloop
02 import tornado.web
03
04
05 class ApplicationHandler(tornado.web.RequestHandler):
06
07 def get(self):
08 self.message = message = """<html>
09 <head>
10 <title>Tornado Framework</title>
11
12 </head>
13 <body
 14 <h2>Welcome to the Tornado framework</h2>
15 </body>
16 </html>"""
17 self.write(message)
18
19
20 if __name__ == "__main__":
21 application = tornado.web.Application([
22 (r"/", ApplicationHandler),
23 ])
24 application.listen(5001)
25 tornado.ioloop.IOLoop.instance().start()

In the code above:

We de ne the class ApplicationHandler which serves as the handler for a request and
returns a response using the write() method.
The main method is the entry for the program.
tornado.web.Application  creates a base for the web application and takes a collection of
handlers, i.e. ApplicationHandler.
The Application listens on port 5000, and a client can communicate to this application using
the same port.
tornado.ioloop.IOLoop.instance().start() creates a nonblocking thread for an application.

If we run the application, we will get the result as shown in the screenshot below.

Conclusion
By now you must have grasped the basics of socket programming in Python and how you can
build a simple server and client. Feel free to experiment by building your own chat client. For
more information, visit the o cial Python docs.

Additionally, don’t hesitate to see what we have available for sale and for study in the Envato
Market, and don't hesitate to ask any questions and provide your valuable feedback using the
feed below.
 Advertisement

Esther Vaati
Software developer

Esther is a software developer based in Kenya. She is very passionate about technology.
She is also a programming instructor at Envato Tuts+. When she is not coding, she loves to
watch movies and do volunteer work.

 Kaleiesther

 FEED  LIKE  FOLLOW

Weekly email summary

Subscribe below and we’ll send you a weekly email summary of all new Code tutorials. Never miss out on learning
about the next big thing.

Email Address

Update me weekly

Advertisement
 Translations

Envato Tuts+ tutorials are translated into other languages by our community members—you can be involved too!

Translate this post

Powered by

0 Comments Tuts+ Hub 

1 Login

 Recommend 2 t Tweet f Share Sort by Best

Start the discussion…

LOG IN WITH
OR SIGN UP WITH DISQUS ?

Name

Be the first to comment.

✉ Subscribe d Add Disqus to your siteAdd DisqusAdd 🔒 Disqus' Privacy PolicyPrivacy PolicyPrivacy
 Advertisement

QUICK LINKS - Explore popular categories

ENVATO TUTS+ 

JOIN OUR COMMUNITY 

HELP 

28,225 1,265 39,813

Tutorials Courses Translations

Envato.com Our products Careers Sitemap

© 2019 Envato Pty Ltd. Trademarks and brands are the property of their respective owners.

Follow Envato Tuts+

FacebookTwitter Pinterest