About

DXSock is a developer library sold with full source code. The product is geared towards low-level client and server development. Supporting TCP/IP and UDP/IP solution, along with low-level Linux and Mac file devices. This version of the product was written from scratch on Mac OS X, then every routine was manipulated where needed to support Linux and then Windows. This approach allowed us to leverage the best of each operating system.

On operating systems which support POSIX threading the product implements all necessary hooks for you automatically; and for Windows, we leverage our existing threading manager. This allows your product to operate as fast as the hosting operating system can support.

Comparing Versions

Earlier versions of our product came with over 150 protocol implementations. While we thought this would add to the value of our product, it actually confused people more than helping them. In this release, we provide you with one low-level socket object, a generic server implementation and just a few of the more common protocols (FTP, POP3, SMTP, HTTP). These protocols allow you to gain a better understanding of the communications layer.

Earlier versions also included over 200 add-on components, which were parts from products we had developed. This release only has one add-on which has been divided into smaller pieces. What was a massive string library that contained more than string routines has been broken out to nicely organized pieces. String routines are now in the dxutil_strings unit. Internet routines are not in the dxutil_internet unit. This way you only include what you need in your product, and it allowed us to focus on porting each unit into a multi-platform solution for the suite. Taking advantage of operating specific features where possible, implementing optimization techniques for different compilers and supporting different Endian styles for different environments.

Major Improvements

Since this version took us over 4 years to develop, we were able to build a suite of end-user applications using the code as it evolved into Version 6.0. This means we found ways to improve routines, found routines which we no longer needed and tested concepts against the different compilers and operating systems to see how to produce more efficient versions of the routines.

Less dependency, our product was a complete developer tool... this version, however, uses less from any specific compiler to achieve cross-compiler support. Even trivial routines for a Windows developer became chores as we researched ways to replace Windows API calls with native cross-platform implementations.

Co-Exist with OLDER DXSock??

Another major change to the product was to support the older version of the product in our development environments while we wrote 6.0. To achieve this DXSOCK.PAS became DXSOCK6.PAS, TDXSock became TBPDXSock, and everything else has been redesigned, so the naming is original and if we tried to explain what became what we could introduce unnecessary confusion for everyone. If you treat DXSock 6.0 as a new product to your collection, you will quickly learn that most of your products only need one or two of the DXSock units, and worse case 4 or 5 of the dxutil units.