public interface Channel
{
  public boolean isOpen( );
  public void close( ) throws IOException;
}

SocketChannel sc = SocketChannel.open();
sc.connect (new InetSocketAddress ("somehost", someport));
ServerSocketChannel ssc = ServerSocketChannel.open( );
ssc.socket().bind (new InetSocketAddress (somelocalport));
DatagramChannel dc = DatagramChannel.open();

public interface ScatteringByteChannel extends ReadableByteChannel {
  public long read (ByteBuffer [] dsts) throws IOException;
  public long read (ByteBuffer [] dsts, int offset, int length) throws IOException;
}
public interface GatheringByteChannel extends WritableByteChannel {
  public long write(ByteBuffer[] srcs) throws IOException;
  public long write(ByteBuffer[] srcs, int offset, int length) throws IOException;
}