SOCKET protocol
The idea of the DamExchange SOCKET protocol is using TCP/IP stream sockets for sending the messages. The SOCKET protocol uses port 27531.
With the DamExchange SOCKET protocol Draughts computer programs can play real-time games as well within a LAN as well as over the Internet. It is also possible to let two Draughts computer programs run on one computer and play games making use of the loop-back address 127.0.0.1 (IPv4) or ::1 (IPv6).
The layer 2 DamExchange messages are exchanged by the SOCKET layer 1 protocol.
In the SOCKET layer 1 protocol a message of 1 to 127 characters is sent as data through stream sockets after adding a '\0' character at the end of the message. This is necessary for the receiver of the message to determine if the entire message is received. Please note that a DamExchange message itself never contains a '\0' character (see level 2 protocol description).
No technical details about programming TCP/IP stream sockets is given here because there are a lot of publications available covering this subject.