The UDP Protocol
A high level overview of the User Datagram Protocol
UDP, User Datagram Protocol, is a transfer protocol, an alternative to TCP.
Its main difference from TCP is that it’s connectionless.
This implies that it’s faster, each packet sent is more lightweight, as it does not contain all the information needed in TCP, and it does have a lighter handshake process.
The drawback is that UDP is not reliable as TCP.
In TCP, if a packet gets lost, the protocol is able to handle it and the packet is re-sent.
In UDP, this is not built-in into the protocol, and must be handled at a higher level (built on top of it). There is no built-in check to control if a packet was received, and if it is received correctly.
UDP was defined in RFC 768 in 1980.
Some of the most notable application protocols that rely on the UDP layer are DNS and DHCP, and more importantly is the base layer of HTTP/3, the next version of HTTP.
The UDP protocol uses ports to allow communication between processes, like with TCP.
download all my books for free
- javascript handbook
- typescript handbook
- css handbook
- node.js handbook
- astro handbook
- html handbook
- next.js pages router handbook
- alpine.js handbook
- htmx handbook
- react handbook
- sql handbook
- git cheat sheet
- laravel handbook
- express handbook
- swift handbook
- go handbook
- php handbook
- python handbook
- cli handbook
- c handbook
subscribe to my newsletter to get them
Terms: by subscribing to the newsletter you agree the following terms and conditions and privacy policy. The aim of the newsletter is to keep you up to date about new tutorials, new book releases or courses organized by Flavio. If you wish to unsubscribe from the newsletter, you can click the unsubscribe link that's present at the bottom of each email, anytime. I will not communicate/spread/publish or otherwise give away your address. Your email address is the only personal information collected, and it's only collected for the primary purpose of keeping you informed through the newsletter. It's stored in a secure server based in the EU. You can contact Flavio by emailing flavio@flaviocopes.com. These terms and conditions are governed by the laws in force in Italy and you unconditionally submit to the jurisdiction of the courts of Italy.