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What is TCP?
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is a transport layer protocol used to create a connection between applications so that they can exchange data over a communication network.
Key features
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TCP provides a process for communication. Port numbers are appended in the header of the packet to enable this.
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A three-way handshaking process takes place to open a connection in TCP; hence, it is called a connection-oriented protocol.
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A packet (called a segment in case of TCP) contains a checksum field used for error control.
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TCP prevents the sender from sending in more data than the receiver can handle with the window size provided by the receiver.
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It guarantees the reliable delivery of segments. Incase of segment loss or corruption, segments are re-transmitted.
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It reassembles the packets in the correct order at the receiver side.
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It uses a congestion avoidance algorithm to avoid the network from being congested.
TCP segment
The TCP segment consists of a header and data. The following illustration goes over its structure:
Applications that use TCP
TCP is used where reliable in-order delivery of packets is needed. Such applications include:
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Web surfing
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Sending and receiving emails
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