Systems Analyst: What is the difference between TCP and UDP?

TCP — reliable, ordered. UDP — fast, unreliable.

TCP:

• Connection-oriented.
• Guaranteed delivery.
• Ordered packets.
• Error checking and recovery.
• Slower, higher overhead.

UDP:

• Connectionless.
• No delivery guarantee.
• No ordering.
• No error recovery.
• Fast, low overhead.

Use Cases:

• TCP — HTTP, email, file transfer.
• UDP — video streaming, gaming, DNS.