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C# 4 and .NET 4

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45<br />

Peer - to - Peer networking<br />

WhaT ’ s in This ChaPTer<br />

➤<br />

➤<br />

➤<br />

An overview of P2P<br />

The Microsoft Windows Peer - to - Peer Networking platform, including PNRP<br />

<strong>and</strong> PNM<br />

Building P2P applications with the .<strong>NET</strong> Framework<br />

Peer - to - peer networking, often referred to as P2P, is perhaps one of the most useful <strong>and</strong> yet<br />

misunderstood technologies to emerge in recent years. When people think of P2P they usually think<br />

of one thing: sharing music fi les, often illegally. This is because fi le - sharing applications such as<br />

BitTorrent have risen in popularity at a staggering rate, <strong>and</strong> these applications use P2P technology<br />

to work.<br />

Although P2P is used in fi le - sharing applications, that doesn ’ t mean it doesn ’ t have other applications.<br />

Indeed, as you see in this chapter, P2P can be used for a vast array of applications, <strong>and</strong> is becoming<br />

more <strong>and</strong> more important in the interconnected world in which we live. You learn about this in the<br />

fi r s t pa r t of t h i s ch apt er, when you lo ok at a n over v ie w of P 2 P t e ch nolo g ie s .<br />

Microsoft has not been oblivious to the emergence of P2P, <strong>and</strong> has been developing its own tools<br />

<strong>and</strong> technologies to use it. You can use the Microsoft Windows Peer - to - Peer Networking platform<br />

as a communication framework for P2P applications. This platform includes the important components<br />

Peer Name Resolution Protocol (PNRP) <strong>and</strong> People Near Me (PNM). Also, version 3.5 of the<br />

.<strong>NET</strong> Framework introduced a new namespace, System.Net.PeerToPeer , <strong>and</strong> several new types<br />

<strong>and</strong> features that you can use to build P2P applications yourself with minimal effort.<br />

Peer - To - Peer neTWorKing oVerVieW<br />

Peer - to - peer networking is an alternative approach to network communication. To underst<strong>and</strong> how<br />

P2P differs from the “ st<strong>and</strong>ard ” approach to network communication it is helpful to take a step<br />

backward <strong>and</strong> look at client - server communications. Client - server communications are ubiquitous in<br />

networked applications today.<br />

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