Useful information for the exam

Text book:

The textbook is Computer Networks: A Systems Approach by Larry Peterson and Bruce Davie, published by Morgan Kaufmann, 1996 or 2000.

The book provides a good, easy-to-read overview of the subject area. This will be supplemented by detailed examples given in the lectures.

Other books which you may find useful include:

• Data Communications, Computer Networks and Open Systems by Fred Halsall, published by Addison Wesley, (3^rd or 4^th editions)
• TCP/IP Illustrated - Volume I, by Richard Stevens, published by Addison Wesley, 1994
• Computer Networks by Andrew Tanenbaum, published by Prentice Hall, 3^rd Edition, 1996
• Data & Computer Communications by William Stallings, published by Prentice Hall, 6^th Edition, 2000

Assessment:

Practical work: A lab has been established in G64. You will work in groups of 4 or 5 over a series of labs starting in week 4.

Written Exam: The written exam will be a two-hour paper, and you can bring three A4 sheets of paper with hand-written summaries with you. The written exam counts for 60% of the unit of study mark. Please note that material counted as examinable is obviously that which is specifically covered in lectures, but also includes that encountered in the labs and that which is in the directed reading.

Preconditions:

• The ability to program in C
• The ability to exercise independent learning

Readings for Weeks 1 and 2:

Please get hold of the text book ASAP. You are asked to read in advanced of the coursework and email me any questions that you want me to address in lectures.

Note that you should get hold of a copy of the lecture slides to guide you in your reading. These lecture slides will be available from the Copy Centre early next week. Anything that you see referred to there may be worth looking up in the index of the textbook.

Laboratory sessions will not begin until week 4 of the semester. Lab-notes will also be available at the Copy Centre in week 2.

(I will call a meeting with students who are enrolled in COMP3907 and COMP5007 in week 3 to discuss additional arrangements)

 

 

Lecture 1 Section 1.2 "requirements" pp. 10-29

Section 1.3 "Network Architecture" pp. 29-39

Lecture 2 "Problem - Physically Connecting Hosts" pp. 88-89

Section 3.2 - "Encoding" pp. 94-98

Lecture 3 Section 3.3 - "Framing" pp. 98-105

Lecture 4 No specific reading

Lecture Format:

The following is proposed as a format for the lecture slots. It is open to change, depending on its value to students:

• Each week, advance copies of additional material (if required) will be distributed in the class. Lecture slides are available at the Copy Centre (except the first week).
• Students do the advertised reading in advance of the class, and look through the slides.
• Email me any questions. I will address them in the relevant lecture.
• Administrative stuff is done somewhere mid-lecture-ish, so no one misses anything.
• Emailed questions are given some focus; this way the lecture time is at least partially driven by student needs.
• Sometimes we will have opportunity to look over the actual exam questions from previous exam papers, as they apply to material recently covered in lectures.
• On almost every occasion the weather outside will be better than that inside the lecture theatre. For this reason, and as a matter of courtesy to fellow students, please take advantage of the areas outside the lecture theatre for conversations.
• Prior exposure to electrical engineering - the course starts with "low-level" aspects of communications which is important to understand the whole picture. It does not deal with these things in depth, and the lectures and your own reading will provide the background that you will need.

Laboratory Schedule:

• Weeks 1, 2, 3 : No labs
• Week 4: Physical Layer Lab (RS-232 experiment)
• Week 5: Windows for Workgroups
• Weeks 6, 7: No labs
• Week 8: Unix Administration & Monitoring TCP/IP Network traffic
• Week 9: BSD Socket Programming
• Weeks 10 & 11: Remote Procedure Call Programming, Client/Server application
• Weeks 12 & 13: Implementing a network protocol

Every now and then additional news and materials are updated on the course's webpage. Please consult it regularly.

Doan Hoang