An Introduction to Computer Networks

Abstract

This book is meant as a serious and more-or-less thorough text for an introductory college or graduate course in computer networks, carefully researched, with consistent notation and style, and complete with diagrams and exercises. My intent is to create a text that covers to a reasonable extent why the Internet is the way it is, to avoid the endless dreary focus on TLA’s (Three-Letter Acronyms), and to remain not too mathematical. For the last, I have avoided calculus, linear algebra, and, for that matter, quadratic terms (though some inequalities do sneak in at times). That said, the book includes a large number of back-of-the-envelope calculations – in settings as concrete as I could make them – illustrating various networking concepts.

Overall, I tried to find a happy medium between practical matters and underlying principles. My goal has been to create a book that is useful to a broad audience, including those interested in network management, in high-performance networking, in software development, or just in how the Internet is put together.

The book can also be used as a networks supplement or companion to other resources for a variety of other courses that overlap to some greater or lesser degree with networking. At Loyola, earlier versions of this material have been used – coupled with a second textbook – in courses in computer security, network management, telecommunications, and even introduction-to-computing courses for non-majors. Another possibility is an alternative or nontraditional presentation of networking itself. It is when used in concert with other works, in particular, that this book’s being free is of marked advantage.