datagramoriented

Datagram-oriented, sometimes written as datagram-oriented or datagram oriented, describes a design or communication model in which data is transmitted as discrete, self-contained units called datagrams. Each datagram contains enough information for the network layer to route it to its destination without relying on any prior datagrams. In this model, datagrams are treated as independent messages rather than a continuous stream of bytes.

Key characteristics include a connectionless service, preservation of message boundaries, and a best-effort delivery guarantee. The network may route and deliver each datagram independently, and delivery order is not guaranteed. Because the network layers often remain stateless with respect to individual datagrams, reliability, ordering, and flow control are typically handled by the endpoints or by an upper-layer protocol.

Datagram-oriented behavior is implemented in protocols and APIs that emphasize datagram semantics, such as the Internet Protocol with UDP transport and datagram sockets. Applications use datagram-oriented interfaces when they require low latency, simple messaging, multicast or broadcast, or when they can tolerate occasional loss. In contrast, stream-oriented approaches treat data as a continuous flow of bytes with an established connection and often incorporate built-in reliability and ordering.

Common use cases include DNS queries, real-time communication, gaming, and control messages where timely delivery is preferred to guaranteed delivery. Datagrams are also useful in sensor networks and some multimedia applications where the overhead of maintaining a connection state is undesirable.

Overall, datagram-oriented design emphasizes independence of packets, minimal protocol state, and end-to-end responsibility for data integrity and sequencing when required by the application.