``more than one thing at a time.'' Multi-threaded programming is the

simplest and most popular way to do it, but there is another very

different technique, that lets youhave nearly all the advantages of

only practical if your program is largely I/O bound. If your program

you really need. Network servers are rarely CPU-bound, however.

If your operating system supports the \cfunction{select()} system call

I/O is taking place in the ``background.'' Although this strategy can

seem strange and complex, especially at first, it is in many ways

easier to understand and control than multi-threaded programming.

you, making the task of building sophisticated high-performance

network servers and clients a snap.

In addition, there are the basic methods needed to construct and

manipulate ``channels,'' which are what we will call the socket

connections in this context. Note that most of these are nearly

\begin{methoddesc}{create_socket}{family, type}

This is identical to the creation of a normal socket, and

\end{methoddesc}

\begin{methoddesc}{connect}{address}

tuple with the first element the host to connect to, and the

second the port.

\end{methoddesc}