Java和C之间的套接字通信：良好的缓冲区大小

Question

I have to implement a socket communicatio between a Server written in Java and a Client written in C.

The maximum amount of data that I will have to transmit is 64KB.

In the most socket communication tutorials they are working with buffer sizes of about 1024 Byte or less. Is it a (maybe performance) problem to set the buffer to 64KB?

The two software parts will run on the same machine or at least in the same local area network.

And if it is a problem: How to handle messages that are bigger than buffer in general?

Answer 1

The buffer can be smaller than the messages without any problem while the receiver consumes the data as fast as the sender generates it. A bigger buffer lets your receiver to have more time to process the message, but usually you don't need a giant buffer: for example, when you download software the size of a file can be more than 1GB, but your browser/ftp client just reads the buffer and stores the data in a file in your local hard disk.

And in general, you can ignore the language used to create the client or the server, only the network protocol matters. Every language has its own libraries to handle sockets with ease.

Answer 2

I suggest a larger buffer but I suspect you see less than 5% difference whether you use 1 KB or 64 KB.

Note: b = bit and B = byte , k = 1000 and K = 1024 and it is best not to get the confused (not that it is likely to matter here)