SCTP
SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) is a transport-layer protocol designed to provide reliable, message-oriented communication with features like multi-homing and multi-streaming. It combines aspects of TCP and UDP, offering ordered delivery like TCP but with message boundaries preserved like UDP, and includes built-in security against certain attacks. SCTP is commonly used in telecommunications, VoIP, and signaling applications where high reliability and fault tolerance are critical.
Developers should learn SCTP when building applications that require robust, fault-tolerant communication, such as in telecom networks (e.g., SS7 signaling), real-time systems, or scenarios needing multi-homing for network redundancy. It's particularly useful for protocols like WebRTC for data channels, where its message-oriented nature and congestion control outperform TCP in latency-sensitive environments. Use it when you need to avoid head-of-line blocking or require enhanced security against DoS attacks compared to TCP.