A socket represents a connection between two programs on a network and allows them to communicate. The document discusses sockets and how they enable client-server applications like a chat application. It provides code examples of how a chat client would connect to and send messages to a chat server, which would listen for incoming connections and send messages to connected clients. The key aspects are that the server binds to a port and listens for clients to connect, and then messages can be sent bidirectionally between the client and server over their socket connection.