What should I know to develop a p2p applet

Question

I need to develop a java applet(without GUI) that uses sockets for data sharing between two or more peers. I'm fresh new to network based programming, so I have to ask which subjects or elements or terms should I know to develop this kind of applets? I've read some articles and reviewed some apps about socket programming, like a basic chat app that uses swing or transferring a file within hard disk, but couldn't really get the idea. I don't know what should I seek or what should I know to develop this applet, any suggestion will be appreciated

Answer 1

I found this to be of some use as an introduction to P2P architecture design.

http://cs.berry.edu/~nhamid/p2p/

It provides working code examples which you can modify for Science or to fit your needs.