#define MAXDATASIZE 100   /* Max number of bytes of data */

int start_socket()
{
  int fd, numbytes;       /* files descriptors */
  char buf[MAXDATASIZE];  /* buf will store received text */
  
  struct hostent *he;         /* structure that will get information about remote host */
  struct sockaddr_in server;  /* server's address information */

  if ((he=gethostbyname(SERVER))==NULL){       /* calls gethostbyname() */
    printf("gethostbyname() error\n");
    exit(-1);
  }

  if ((fd=socket(AF_INET, SOCK_STREAM, 0))==-1){  /* calls socket() */
    printf("socket() error\n");
    exit(-1);
  }

  server.sin_family = AF_INET;
  server.sin_port = htons(PORT); /* htons() is needed again */
  server.sin_addr = *((struct in_addr *)he->h_addr);  /*he->h_addr passes "*he"'s info to "h_addr" */
  bzero(&(server.sin_zero),8);

  if(connect(fd, (struct sockaddr *)&server,sizeof(struct sockaddr))==-1){ /* calls connect() */
    perror("connect() error");
    exit(-1);
  }

  return fd;
}