Final answer:
TCP is reliable due to mechanisms like acknowledgments and retransmission, while UDP is unreliable but faster. Sockets are endpoints for communication, involving an IP and port number. TCP uses segments with checksum for integrity, whereas UDP's simple structure includes ports and checksum but no connection tracking.
Step-by-step explanation:
TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) is considered a reliable protocol as it provides guaranteed delivery of data packets to the destination in the correct order. It does this through various mechanisms such as sequence numbers, acknowledgments (ACKs), and retransmission of lost packets.
What is a Socket?
A socket is an endpoint for sending or receiving data across a computer network. In the context of the transport layer, it combines an IP address with a port number to create a unique identifier for network communication.
Understanding TCP and UDP Segments
TCP segments are made up of a header and a data section. The header includes fields like source and destination ports, sequence and acknowledgment numbers, flags, window size, and a checksum. The checksum field is used to verify the integrity of the data.
UDP segments are simpler in structure and contain a header with source and destination ports, length, and a checksum. Unlike TCP, UDP is considered an unreliable protocol because it does not establish a connection or guarantee delivery of packets.
The source and destination ports in both TCP and UDP segments are used to direct the packets to the correct application processes on the sending and receiving machines. The checksum helps in error checking.
UDP does not keep track of the source and destination IP because it operates at the transport layer, which is only concerned with the transport of data between end systems, not their location within the network. The IP layer is responsible for routing and addressing of packets.