Advanced Placement (AP) Computer Science

The primary function of the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is to enable timely but unreliable message delivery. This protocol is designed for scenarios where speed is critical and some data loss is acceptable. Unlike its counterpart, the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), UDP does not establish a connection before sending data, nor does it guarantee that packets will arrive in order or even arrive at all. This lack of overhead allows for faster transmission, making UDP suitable for applications such as video streaming, online gaming, and voice over IP (VoIP), where the timeliness of the data is more critical than its completeness. UDP supports a simple structure, sending packets called datagrams without prior negotiations and without the need for acknowledgment from the receiver. This allows applications to take full advantage of the network's speed but requires them to handle any issues that arise from the unreliable nature of the communication themselves.