Some additional abstraction over Sockets

[dimzon]

AFAIK In java socket is interface (or abstract class) and there are SocketFactory conception. This allows to make such pretty things like SSH over HTTPS or add some protocol obfuscation just using decorator pattern.
At client retrospective this allows client application to use tunneling directly (without binding to physical port). I.e. this allows to connect directly to host:ip via ssh tunnel and get input|output streams.