TCP provides a reliable byte stream, but it is up to the application developer to “frame” the data sent between client and server. The maximum payload of a TCP segment is 65,495 bytes if it is carried...

TCP provides a reliable byte stream, but it is up to the application developer to “frame” the data sent between client and server. The maximum payload of a TCP segment is 65,495 bytes if it is carried over an IP datagram. Why would such a strange number be chosen? Also, why do most TCP senders emit only packets with packet size smaller than 1460 bytes? For example, even though a client might send 3000 bytes via write( ), the server might read only 1460 bytes.