What is the explanation for the states and inner workings of TCP?

There are two classic books on the subject... probably the one best-suited for your question is Stevens TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol I although Vol II goes into greater depth from a code-implementation perspective.

There are two classic books on the subject... probably the one best-suited for your question is Stevens' TCP/IP Illustrated, Vol I although Vol II goes into greater depth from a code-implementation perspective. Doug Comer's Internetworking with TCP/IP, Vol I is another great reference, although he doesn't go quite as deep as Stevens does. You should be able to find either one in your public library... they have been around for years... even older copies should fit the bill.

EDIT: actually I'm over-simplifying when I say there are two... these are the ones that were most helpful to me in understanding TCP at a conceptual and state-machine level.

The books Mike recommended are excellent. In addition I found this diagram to be useful regarding your TCP states questions since it shows the possible flows: publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/zos/v1...? Topic=/com.ibm.zos.

R9. Halu101/constatus. Htm IIRC there's a similar diagram in the Steven's book.

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