Is it possible to send one bit from one computer to another computer through socket?

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I am working on a project in which i have to send data in bits.

Is it possible to send 1 bit from one computer to another through internet.Most of the people said to me that minimum internet packet size is 64bytes.If i send 1bit from one computer to another then packet bandwidth is 64bytes.

Posted 25-Feb-13 5:24am

Alamgirable

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3 solutions

Solution 1

There is no such think as 1-bit package, quite apparently. The trick is: no matter what you do, you always create some application-layer protocol (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/system.speech.recognition.dictationgrammar.aspx[^]) to conduct your application semantic in your network messages. So you can send 1 byte, but the protocol should state that the only one bit should be considered.

And of course, actual package will be much bigger that that; and you cannot physically send anything without this overhead.

Finally, in practice, it's extremely an bad idea to send tiny bits of data; it's a waste of traffic, when almost all information transmitted is in the package envelope. As to one bit, it does not make any sense at all. However, I understand that it was a question to test your understanding. Not a good one, anyway, because everything boils down to different understanding of the word "send".

—SA

Posted 25-Feb-13 6:11am

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

v2

Solution 3

What you want to do is analogous to mailing a microdot to someone using the post office mail system. You would typically package your payload in a container which goes in an envelope, which you write the "from" and "to" addresses on. Even if your payload is microscopic, there are other things you put in the mailbox.

The answer to your question is that, of course, you can send a single bit using a socket, but the bit will be sent with a lot of padding and an envelope.

Posted 25-Feb-13 8:47am

H.Brydon

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Alamgirable 26-Feb-13 6:50am

As you said that bit will be sent with a lot of padding and an envelope.My question is that this padding and envelope also include in internet traffic or bandwidth.

H.Brydon 26-Feb-13 11:36am

Absolutely. Look at the ISO and TCP/IP layering models. Depending on how you define things, there are 5 or more layers to the TCP/IP stack. Every layer puts the previous layer in another wrapper. I would make a ballpark estimate that sending 1 bit from your machine to another will probably involve 1K of traffic or more.

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Richard MacCutchan · Accepted Answer · 2013-02-25T06:11:00

Solution 2

You already posted this question at internet packet size help.....?[^]; if you have additional information to add then please edit the original.

However, as I indicated in the previous question you can send a single byte via a socket. And if that byte only contains 1 significant bit of information then that is your solution. The size of the physical packet that gets sent across the wire is irrelevant and of no significance at the socket level.

Posted 25-Feb-13 6:11am

Richard MacCutchan

Comments

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 25-Feb-13 12:12pm

Sure, a 5, but I mistakenly assume it was the question by some other member, so I answered, too.
We should not have answered.
—SA

Richard MacCutchan 25-Feb-13 12:33pm

You are right, but I just tried to re-emphasise the information previously given.