Master the foundational principles and advanced techniques of network programming and client-server architectures with this comprehensive, hands-on course designed for aspiring systems programmers and backend developers. You'll learn to build robust networked applications using socket programming with UDP, TCP, and SCTP protocols, while exploring inter-process communication mechanisms including signals, pipes, message queues, and shared memory. The course progresses from fundamental network concepts and layered architectures to advanced topics in distributed systems, remote procedure calls (RPC), and scalable server design patterns. Through practical implementation exercises, you'll develop real-world client-server applications including Telnet, FTP, and HTTP servers, while mastering performance optimization techniques for concurrent and preforked server architectures. You'll gain expertise in I/O models, asynchronous programming, network debugging tools like tcpdump and Wireshark, and distributed application frameworks. Whether you're preparing for roles in backend development, cloud computing, microservices architecture, or systems engineering, this course equips you with essential skills to design, implement, and optimize networked applications that power modern distributed systems and enterprise infrastructure.

Network Programming and Client-Server Programming
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Network Programming and Client-Server Programming

Instructor: BITS Pilani Instructors Group
Included with
Recommended experience
What you'll learn
Write advanced C programs for OS and network-level tasks, including inter-process communication, threading, and synchronisation techniques.
Develop high-performance servers and distributed applications using client-server models, remote procedure calls, and socket programming.
Ensure efficient communication between hosts, processes, and threads while applying concurrency, synchronisation, and programming principles.
Skills you'll gain
- Debugging
- File Systems
- File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
- System Design and Implementation
- Application Servers
- Systems Architecture
- Network Protocols
- Scalability
- Microservices
- Distributed Computing
- Computer Networking
- TCP/IP
- Web Services
- System Programming
- Network Performance Management
- Network Architecture
- Software Development
- Servers
Tools you'll learn
Details to know

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November 2025
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There are 10 modules in this course
Instructor

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Status: PreviewVanderbilt University

Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani
Status: PreviewThe Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Status: Free TrialVanderbilt University
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