Computer Networks

Announcements

• February 7: I have made the following revisions to the course mechanics. Let me know if you have further thoughts on this.

• You are now required to complete only 7 out of 12 abstracts to earn an A. I will continue to assign them weekly, but you can choose several to skip.
• Abstracts now count for only 10% of the final grade. I shifted the other 5% to WarmUps, which you are all faithfully completing. Although WarmUps are worth 20%, my standard is the same: that you make a sincere attempt to understand the reading and address the assigned questions. The point is to discover what is difficult for you to understand and therefore worthwhile to discuss in class, as well as what is easy and need not be discussed.
• Abstracts are now due at 5:30 rather than 5 on Tuesday. (This better matches my schedule.) As we discussed, I did not change the day of the week they are due.

• January 22: Our class twiki is at https://www.cs.hmc.edu/twiki/bin/view/CS364Spring2009

• January 16: Welcome back! Read our plan for week 1.

About this course

Welcome to the spring 2009 session of CSC 364, Computer Networks.  In this class, I hope you learn not only how the Internet works, but why it is designed the way it is. Although the Internet has been a remarkable success, we'll also consider the limitations of its design.

My goals are for you to

• consider problems, requirements, and design trade-offs--and in particular, how changing circumstances can change which solution is "right";
• learn what makes the Internet work (including the details of important protocols);
• analyze network performance;
• observe Internet protocols and systems "in the wild";
• work with programming abstractions to implement simple Internet protocols; and
• gain experience reading  literature from both research and practice.

I expect you to be comfortable programming in C and, ideally, to have some other experience with operating systems or architecture.

Intrigued? Go on to read about course mechanics and the schedule.

Textbook

Our textbook is

• L. Peterson & B. Davie (2007). Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, 4th ed. Morgan Kaufmann.

Janet Davis (davisjan@cs.grinnell.edu)