transmission control protocol
    n 1: a protocol developed for the internet to get data from one
         network device to another; "TCP uses a retransmission
         strategy to insure that data will not be lost in
         transmission" [syn: transmission control protocol, TCP]

	

	Transmission Control Protocol
TCP

    (TCP) The most common transport layer
   protocol used on Ethernet and the Internet.  It was
   developed by DARPA.

   TCP is the connection-oriented protocol built on top of
   Internet Protocol (IP) and is nearly always seen in the
   combination TCP/IP (TCP over IP).  It adds reliable
   communication and flow-control and provides full-duplex,
   process-to-process connections.

   TCP is defined in STD 7 and RFC 793.

   User Datagram Protocol is the other, connectionless,
   protocol that runs on top of IP.

   (2001-06-14)