# Can someone tell me what a "socket" is? "24" NO Spoliers!



## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

They seem to be obsessed with "sockets" on 24. Can someone explain what a socket is and why they are so important to national security.


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## MickeS (Dec 26, 2002)

They are used to control the whatchamacallits, so they are pretty important.


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## Spire (Jun 6, 2001)

A socket is one end of a computer network connection.

It's not a physical thing; it's an abstraction/metaphor implemented in software.


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

Why do they constantly need to open a new one? I know these questions sound dumb but they all sound kinda dumb using this word over and over for the past 7 years.


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## Spire (Jun 6, 2001)

Computers typically open a new socket whenever they need to download or upload some data. This includes every time you click a link to go to a new page in your Web browser, every time you send someone an IM, and every time you check your e-mail.

If you're running Windows, try the _netstat_ command at a command prompt (_cmd_) to see a list of all the sockets your computer has open right this instant.


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## Gunnyman (Jul 10, 2003)

Opening a socket makes more sense than refreshing a hard drive which is what cougar trap Kim had to do in an episode.


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## wedgecon (Dec 28, 2002)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_socket

Of course only in 24 do end users "manually" open sockets, the rest of us use applications to open sockets for us. A web browser may open a dozen or more sockets just to open a web page.


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## Jeeters (Feb 25, 2003)

wedgecon said:


> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_socket
> 
> Of course only in 24 do end users "manually" open sockets, the rest of us use applications to open sockets for us. A web browser may open a dozen or more sockets just to open a web page.


I've always had the impression that 24's 'manual' opening of sockets is a security thing. Akin to opening up a port of a firewall. Still not accurate, but it works OK for the show, imo.


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## madscientist (Nov 12, 2003)

I've always assumed that the "sockets" in 24 are not the same thing as a normal TCP/IP socket. They're some kind of super-secure computer connection; "creating" one apparently involves having special kinds of access (sometimes peoples' security clearance is lowered in 24, then they can't create sockets, or at least not all kinds of sockets, anymore).

To get more technical I've imagined that 24 sockets are something like a super-secure VPN connection which requires lots of passwords, etc. to set up.

Of course, really it's just some tech terminology that the folks on 24 made up.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

wow i just discovered i have over 2 dozen sockets open on my laptop...so does this mean chloe has access to my machine?


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## jeff125va (Mar 15, 2001)

newsposter said:


> wow i just discovered i have over 2 dozen sockets open on my laptop...so does this mean chloe has access to my machine?


Either that or someone has used a CIP device to disable the government firewall protecting the laptops of every American.


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## mrmike (May 2, 2001)

newsposter said:


> wow i just discovered i have over 2 dozen sockets open on my laptop...so does this mean chloe has access to my machine?


No, it means....

*You're the mole!*


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## vman41 (Jun 18, 2002)

Spire said:


> Computers typically open a new socket whenever they need to download or upload some data. This includes every time you click a link to go to a new page in your Web browser, every time you send someone an IM, and every time you check your e-mail.


In the abstract, your are always opening new connections. In real world implentation, however, applications go to some effort to keep open and reuse existing connections. The latencies involved in opening and 'spinning up' a new connection make it worth while for a web browser to open 4 or 8 connections at once to download all the component pieces of the of a web page.


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## gchance (Dec 6, 2002)

mrmike said:


> No, it means....
> 
> *You're the mole!*


I disagree. Chloe has two tasks she needs to do, but can only do one at a time, so she needs clarification, okay?!?!

Greg


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## goMO (Dec 29, 2004)

yeah, it was kind of a boring episode last night!!


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## scsiguy72 (Nov 25, 2003)

gchance said:


> I disagree. Chloe has two tasks she needs to do, but can only do one at a time, so she needs clarification, okay?!?!
> 
> Greg


Don't forget...She is also a stay at home mom.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

mrmike said:


> No, it means....
> 
> *You're the mole!*


so if i open up my laptop, where will i see these sockets?


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## DevdogAZ (Apr 16, 2003)

Opening a socket is akin to setting up a perimeter. Neither one will last very long.


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## wmcbrine (Aug 2, 2003)

It's true that, most of the time, we rely on apps to open their own sockets. But on 24, everyone seems to be a programmer, among their many other skills. And if they were using something like Python's interactive interpreter (surely there's no time for compiling/linking C!), they could actually open a socket manually, and have the interpreter sitting at the prompt waiting for the next command, while the socket was open.

But seriously, everything about computers (and, well, everything else) in 24 is ridiculous, really.


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## gchance (Dec 6, 2002)

scsiguy72 said:


> Don't forget...She is also a stay at home mom.


Stay at home *MILF*, you mean!

And her home is Bill's garage.

Greg


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

I just assumed the socket is where Jack shoots you when he wants information from you.


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## Bierboy (Jun 12, 2004)

scsiguy72 said:


> Don't forget...She is also a stay at home mom.


Great line....we roared when she said that.


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## Boot (Mar 15, 2000)

newsposter said:


> wow i just discovered i have over 2 dozen sockets open on my laptop...so does this mean chloe has access to my machine?


I have 861 sockets currently open on my work machine.


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## newsposter (Aug 18, 2002)

oh i loved when she said 'i need you to open another socket' and now understand the reason for the thread.


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## dtivouser (Feb 10, 2004)

"Open a socket to the DOD mainframe" is a bit like saying "Go mix petrol and air to create a combustion to drive you to Montgomery Wards."


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## gchance (Dec 6, 2002)

dtivouser said:


> "Open a socket to the DOD mainframe" is a bit like saying "Go mix petrol and air to create a combustion to drive you to Montgomery Wards."


Time travel. Cool. 

Greg


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## hbtaylor (Dec 20, 2001)

But the important thing from this week's episode is that she requested a "fresh" socket. Obviously, for some things, a day-old, worn-out socket is okay, but when the task is really critical, nothing but a fresh-from-the-bakery, shrink-wrap-still-on socket will do the trick. I'm just surprised they didn't need to initiate a protocol to go with the socket.


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## busyba (Feb 5, 2003)

hbtaylor said:


> But the important thing from this week's episode is that she requested a "fresh" socket. Obviously, for some things, a day-old, worn-out socket is okay, but when the task is really critical, nothing but a fresh-from-the-bakery, shrink-wrap-still-on socket will do the trick. I'm just surprised they didn't need to initiate a protocol to go with the socket.


Which is especially funny because everyone knows that a socket needs to be broken in a bit before you can get top performance out of it.


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## aadam101 (Jul 15, 2002)

newsposter said:


> oh i loved when she said 'i need you to open another socket' and now understand the reason for the thread.


If you listen closely, this is a pretty popular line since Day 1 I think. I know Chloe, Milo, Edgar, I think even Nina were all obsessed with sockets.


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## Spire (Jun 6, 2001)

vman41 said:


> In the abstract, your are always opening new connections. In real world implentation, however, applications go to some effort to keep open and reuse existing connections. The latencies involved in opening and 'spinning up' a new connection make it worth while for a web browser to open 4 or 8 connections at once to download all the component pieces of the of a web page.


Yes, I know. (I'm a software developer, and I deal with this stuff every day.) I was just trying to simplify the explanation a bit.


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