IPC Socket - Same computer only?

General
1

Hello everyone,

I have a general question about the IPC Socket. The IPCSocket Docs say that this is only for communication between two applications on the same computer, but could this be extended to applications on different computers?

Here is my scenario: A Windows computer and a Mac computer share large amounts of data (mapping) and they have a common networked drive which is in the same building. Would this work with an IPC socket or is there something else that I am missing?

The docs also mention that a TCPSocket should be used for IPC between applications on different computers, and I can see why because of the reliability. Is there something different under-the-hood for not using an IPC socket?

Thanks for your thoughts :slight_smile:

2

IPC is same computer only. There may be an advantage over TCP on some OS’s because they can use shared memory or some other mechanism (it will vary from OS to OS, however). Since the API is identical, you can use IPC for communication with another app on the same machine and TCP for remote machines fairly easily.

3

Don’t forget that on Windows the IPC socket is really a TCP socket on localhost
See:
http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.eu/listarchive-realbasic-nug/2005-12-07-1.shtml
and
http://forums.realsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2735