Transmission Control Protocol
Transmission Control Protocol or TCP is a Transport layer protocol that helps the transmission of packets from source to destination. Unlike UDP, it establishes connection prior to the communication.
It is generally used alongside an IP protocol and is referred to as TCP/IP.
The features of TCP protocol are as follows:
- The order of the data is maintained.
It ensures the data reaches the receiver in the same order in which it was sent.
- It is used to transmit data from the sender to the receiver.
- It uses flow and error control mechanism and hence is a reliable protocol.
- It is connection-oriented, meaning the data exchange occurs only after the communication is established.
- The data transfer can occur in both directions. It is hence said to be full-duplex.
- It allows the user to send data as a stream of bytes.
Advantages of TCP
The advantages of TCP are as follows:
- TCP helps gain a flow control mechanism using a slide-window protocol.
- It provides a connection-oriented and reliable service.
- It provides error detection.
- It eliminates congestion.
Disadvantages of TCP
The disadvantages of TCP are as follows:
It increases the amount of overhead as there are multiple TCP headers.
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