Network socket

WebSocket is a computer communications protocol, providing a bidirectional communication channel over a single Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) connection. The protocol was standardized by the IETF as in 2011. The current specification allowing web applications to use this protocol is known as WebSockets. It is a living standard maintained by the WHATWG and a successor to The WebSocket API from the W3C.

internal endpoint for sending or receiving data within a node on a computer network

In computing, the Windows Sockets API (WSA), later shortened to Winsock, is an application programming interface (API) that defines how Windows network application software should access network services, especially TCP/IP. It defines a standard interface between a Windows TCP/IP client application (such as an FTP client or a web browser) and the underlying TCP/IP protocol stack. The nomenclature is based on the Berkeley sockets API used in BSD for communications between programs.

Inter-process communication API

socket for exchanging data between processes executing on the same OS; similar to an Internet socket, but all communication occurs within the same OS