Network server paradigms (ctd)

Muliplexed IO - poll()/select()

Traditional UNIX magic
select() requires a bitmap of read and write file descriptors to check, and returns a bitmap of which ones are ready
poll() takes an array of read/write fd's, and returns an array of which ones are ready
poll() is faster than select(), but they both have issues when dealing with large numbers of file descriptors
Note that both are poll-driven - you have to call them every time you wish to check for IO, rather than being notified later on that they're ready