Book excerpt: Today, robust network functionality is critical to more and more iOS and OS X apps. However, writing efficient networking code in Objective-C presents significant challenges. Developers must cope with unreliable or slow connections, large data files, obscure file formats, and many other issues. Even if you've written networking code on other platforms, your knowledge may not apply fully in Apple's environments, and you may miss important opportunities to improve reliability and performance. Now, there's a comprehensive guide to modern iOS and Mac OS X network programming for experienced Objective-C developers. This intermediate-to-advanced level book begins by explaining core networking terminology, concepts, and protocols. Next, Jiva DeVoe walks through several example projects, demonstrating how to solve a wide array of common problems using technologies and techniques that are specific to iOS and Mac OS X. When it comes to network programming on Apple's platforms, iOS and Mac OS X Network Programming addresses more use cases, offers more solutions, and delivers deeper insights than any other book.