Best socket lib in c++

[amitabharya23]

Hi,

Can some one suggest the best framework or toolkit/sdk/lib for sockets in c++. I need to use it to build a server, initially the server is for Linux/unix and we want to develop it on Mac using xcode. Also suggest if there is a better editor for this. Later we want to deploy this server for windows or Mac system. But current target is Linux.

Thanks,
Chuck

[JLBorges]

> best framework or toolkit/sdk/lib for sockets in c++

If the network communication is text based, I would first look at Boost Asio Socket Iostreams
http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_51_0/doc/html/boost_asio/overview/networking/iostreams.html

[amitabharya23]

The server initially be a chat server using encoded json objects, with multiple listeners on multiple sockets about 5-7 sockets. Each sockets listener will do different task like one will listen the tcp sockets from flash clients. 2nd socket listener will listen the web sockets. then others will be used for admin and http calls, clustering etc.

Later this server will communicate with media (video, audio stream).

We (me and my team) don't have in-depth knowledge of sockets in c++ and networking, so, if suggested library will be easy to understand and do lots of optimization and automations that will be great plus point.

[JLBorges]

These are the options that come to mind immediately:

Boost Asio - probably best if your team is made up of programmers who are well versed in state-of-the-art C++

ACE - somewhat more old fashioned, but very robust and more widely used
http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~schmidt/ACE.html

There are several other libraries; for instance, the Java like QT Network Access API
http://doc.qt.nokia.com/4.7-snapshot/network-programming.html