$OUTPUT_AUTOFLUSH=1;
    my $socket = new IO::Socket::INET (PeerHost => 'my.domain.net',
                                   PeerPort => '8888',
                                   Proto => 'tcp',
                                   Reuse => 1);
    die "cannot connect to the server $!\n" unless $socket;

    while (1) {
    
        print "Command??? ";
        chomp ($cmd = <>);
 
        # data to send to a server
        $socket->send($cmd);

        # wait for server acknowledgement          ### GET REPLY
        $socket->recv($ack, 1024);                 ### GET REPLY
        print "response from server was $ack\n";   ### GET REPLY
    }
    $socket->close();