I have a totally working client and server that connect and can send a text message. i have a packet.h, in which i put #define GENERAL_PACKET 1 #define TEXT_MSG 2 class GeneralPacket{ public: int iSize; int iType; }; class TextMsg : public GeneralPacket{ public: char message[512]; }; i''m just confused about the login behind having the two chat, obviously i can''t put something like while(true){ send(); recv(); } does it have to be asynchronous? i just wanna be able to chat nonstop until one of them exits

Options

- polling for read/writability with select() and a zero-second timeout
- non-blocking sockets
- asynchronous sockets
- multithreaded application.

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When someone sends a chat message, there is no guarantee that the person who received it will want to respond. So, you should break down the communications into 2 separate operations.

(Send) When a user types up a chat message and clicks Send, the chat message is delivered to the recipient(s).

(Receive) When a chat message arrives, the message is added to the chat window.

This way, the 2 (or more) chatters can carry on a conversation, or 1 can blab all day while the other just ''listens''. Or somewhere in-between.

I always use non-blocking sockets.