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Asked: 2026-05-20T18:54:15+00:00

I’m writing an instant messaging server in C# for learning purposes. My question is

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I’m writing an instant messaging server in C# for learning purposes.
My question is whether I should use synchronous or asynchronous sockets to handle the IM clients. The goal is to handle as many clients as possible.

I’m not quite sure but as far as I know with async sockets the packets don’t arrive in order which means when you send 2 chat messages and there is a delay/lag it’s possible that the second one arrive before the first one. Is this right and if so, is there a way to solve this issue?

About sync sockets: Is synchronous sockets a good solution for many clients? Do I have to check every socket/connection in a loop if there are new packets? If so, isn’t this quite slow?

Last question: Assume I want to implement a way to send files (e.g. images) through the protocol (which is a non-standard binary protocol btw), can I still send messages while uploading?

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  1. Editorial Team

    The goal is to handle as many clients as possible.

    Async then. It scales a lot better.

    I’m not quite sure but as far as I know with async sockets the packets don’t arrive in order which means when you send 2 chat messages and there is a delay/lag it’s possible that the second one arrive before the first one.

    TCP guarantees that everything arrives in order.

    Assume I want to implement a way to send files (e.g. images) through the protocol (which is a non-standard binary protocol btw), can I still send messages while uploading

    I recommend that you use a separate connection for file transfers. Use the first connection to do a handshake (determine which port to use and specify file name etc). Then use Socket.SendFile on the new socket to transfer the file.

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