Define what a socket is in relation to computer systems.

A socket serves as an endpoint for sending or receiving data across a network, which is crucial for facilitating communication between devices. In computer networking, a socket is defined by an IP address and a port number, enabling the establishment of connections that allow applications to exchange data. This functionality is pivotal in client-server architectures, where clients can connect to server sockets to send requests and receive responses.

The essence of sockets lies in their ability to support the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which are instrumental for different types of data transfer and communication patterns. While other options refer to significant concepts in computing, they do not capture the specific role and definition of a socket in networking. Thus, recognizing a socket as an endpoint for network data exchange is foundational to understanding how applications communicate over networks.