Why is there filename "socket" in lsof output when I use nedit command?

I just want to know why there is a file "socket" open when I use nedit command..

Quote:

COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME nedit 3979 mxoper 1w FIFO 0,7 696805771 pipe nedit 3979 mxoper 2w FIFO 0,7 696805771 pipe nedit 3979 user1 3u unix 0xa830e180 731194794 socket

Also, Why do the node numbers reach 700,000,000+ ? It is beyond the max number set as shown by df -i.

Details on my system:
Quote:

Linux 2.6.9-67.ELhugemem #1 SMP Fri Nov 16 13:04:12 EST 2007 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux

Quote:

Filesystem Inodes IUsed IFree IUse% Mounted on /dev/sda3 59932672 510982 59421690 1% / /dev/sda1 60240 52 60188 1% /boot none 437711 1 437710 1% /dev/shm

ulimit -a output:
Quote:

time(cpu-seconds) unlimited file(blocks) unlimited coredump(blocks) 0 data(kbytes) unlimited stack(kbytes) 10240 lockedmem(kbytes) 32 memory(kbytes) unlimited nofiles(descriptors) 2048 processes 55277