Which characteristic defines UDP's method of communication?

UDP, or User Datagram Protocol, is characterized by its connectionless method of communication. This means that it does not establish a dedicated end-to-end connection before sending data. Instead, UDP sends packets, called datagrams, independently and does not perform handshakes to ensure a connection is active between sender and receiver.

Being connectionless allows UDP to transmit data quickly without the overhead associated with establishing and maintaining a connection, which is particularly useful in applications that require speed over reliability, such as video streaming, online gaming, or VoIP services.

UDP does not guarantee delivery of packets, meaning that datagrams can be lost, duplicated, or received out of order without the protocol's intervention. This distinguishes it from protocols like TCP, which provides connection-oriented features such as guaranteed delivery and ordered delivery, ensuring that data packets are sent and received in the same order they were transmitted.

Understanding UDP's connectionless nature is crucial when designing network applications that can tolerate some data loss and require low latency performance.