VMS Help TCPIP Services, Programming Interfaces, Sockets API, socket(), Description  *Conan The Librarian (sorry for the slow response - running on an old VAX)

    This function provides the primary mechanism for creating
    sockets. The type and protocol of the socket affect the way the
    socket behaves and how it can be used.
    The operation of sockets is controlled by socket-level options,
    which are defined in the SOCKET.H header file and described in
    the setsockopt() function section of this chapter.
    Use the setsockopt() and getsockopt()  functions to set and
    get options. Options take an integer argument that should be
    nonzero if the option is to be enabled or zero if it is to be
    disabled. SO_LINGER uses a linger structure argument defined in
    <socket.h>.
    Related Functions
    See also accept(), bind(),  connect(), listen(), read(),  recv(),
    recvfrom(), recvmsg(),  select(), send(), sendmsg(),  sendto(),
    shutdown(), and write().
    Related Functions
    See also getsockname() and getsockopt().