If you have followed the how-tos on building a web server in Python and creating a Python-based web client, you will find peer-to-peer (P2P) networks to be amazing in their simplicity.

In P2P, instances of the program act as both client and server, often at the same time. While well-known instances of P2P are found in Kazaa and Gnutella, most would not classify the relatively prehistoric Usenet to be an early P2P network (but it was and is). In "Peer-to-Peer Networking: An Overview" I take a look at what makes P2P different from LAN, WAN, and other network implementations and why it matters.