Final answer:
A socket is a combination of an IP address and a port number, which together uniquely identify a network connection on a host machine, allowing routing of packets to specific processes.
Step-by-step explanation:
A socket is a combination of an IP address and a port number. It uniquely identifies a network connection on a host machine. The IP address specifies the location of the host on the network, and the port number identifies the particular process or service within that host. Together, they enable the routing of packets to specific processes running on devices in a network.
For example, when a web server listens for incoming connections, it uses a specific IP address of the server and a port number (typically port 80 for HTTP or 443 for HTTPS) to create a socket that clients can connect to over the internet. Similarly, when you open a website, your web browser opens a socket on your device using the website's IP address and the corresponding port number to fetch the webpage content.