make.socket package:utils R Documentation _C_r_e_a_t_e _a _S_o_c_k_e_t _C_o_n_n_e_c_t_i_o_n _D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n: With 'server = FALSE' attempts to open a client socket to the specified port and host. With 'server = TRUE' listens on the specified port for a connection and then returns a server socket. It is a good idea to use 'on.exit' to ensure that a socket is closed, as you only get 64 of them. _U_s_a_g_e: make.socket(host = "localhost", port, fail = TRUE, server = FALSE) _A_r_g_u_m_e_n_t_s: host: name of remote host port: port to connect to/listen on fail: failure to connect is an error? server: a server socket? _V_a_l_u_e: An object of class '"socket"'. socket: socket number. This is for internal use port: port number of the connection host: name of remote computer _W_a_r_n_i_n_g: I don't know if the connecting host name returned when 'server = TRUE' can be trusted. I suspect not. _A_u_t_h_o_r(_s): Thomas Lumley _R_e_f_e_r_e_n_c_e_s: Adapted from Luke Tierney's code for 'XLISP-Stat', in turn based on code from Robbins and Robbins "Practical UNIX Programming" _S_e_e _A_l_s_o: 'close.socket', 'read.socket' _E_x_a_m_p_l_e_s: daytime <- function(host = "localhost"){ a <- make.socket(host, 13) on.exit(close.socket(a)) read.socket(a) } ## Official time (UTC) from US Naval Observatory ## Not run: daytime("tick.usno.navy.mil")