Using networks in c++

Question

I have started learning c++ quite a while ago, and I am now starting to develop a program which uses a Chat file like this:

filename: (identity):(date)
contents: (identity):(message)

But the only problem I have is that I need to access and send this file over a network(A LAN created using Hamachi).

1. Do I need several libraries or something for this?
2. Can anyone give tips on how to achieve this?

Answer 1

There is a lot of libraries which can help you:

very powerful from boost:

http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/1_48_0/doc/html/boost_asio.html

one from QTNetwork (ofc if you are using QT).

I recommend you to do not use Winsock etc you will be limited to a one platform only.