Differences between Socket and Pipe in Linux - Interview Question

In Linux, sockets and pipes are both mechanisms for inter-process communication, but they have some key differences:

• Socket:
• Sockets are used for communication between processes running on different machines or on the same machine.
• They use the network stack for communication and can work over the network.
• Sockets have IP addresses and ports associated with them for addressing.
• Socket communication is bidirectional and can be either connection-oriented (TCP) or connectionless (UDP).
• Socket communication is slower compared to pipes due to the overhead of networking protocols.
• Pipe:
• Pipes are used for communication between processes running on the same machine.
• Pipes are implemented using file descriptors and are typically unidirectional.
• Pipes are a simple and efficient way for processes to communicate with each other in a pipeline fashion.
• Pipe communication is faster compared to sockets as it is within the same machine and does not involve networking overhead.

Overall, the choice between socket and pipe depends on the specific requirements of the inter-process communication needed in a Linux environment.