TCP/IP Communications Function

We need a C function created for us (Using GCC): 1) TCP/IP Communications Program - This function will pass text over a TCP/IP port to a server listening on the other end. The function should accept the following values: IP Address OR URL (URL's should also work), Port to open on server, Text to send to server, Proxy Address (Proxy address, Proxy Port). This function should support communications using a proxy server if proxy information is passed in the function - if no proxy info is entered in the function- it of course should still work). The function should return a string containing the data passed back from the server. If it could not connect to the server, or any other problem was incountered trying to access the server, it should return an error in the string. The first byte will determine what actions were taken... Passing an 'E' back in the first byte will tell us there was an error, the text following the first byte will be an explanation of what happened (for the end user). Passing an 'S' back in the first byte will state that the server successfully spoke to the server and also return the data the function received following the 'S'. Again- This should work with or without a proxy server (proxy information will be passed in if we need to access a proxy server). It should also work through a firewall (so long as the firewall is configured to allow it- I know some firewalls can block in and ouutgoing - but we need to insure that it will work behind a configured firewall). The functions must be written, tested and compiled with GCC (Cross platform C). We will test the functions using Cygwin GCC and also Linux GCC. These functions must be platform independant. Code must be commented, and clean.