Overview
The world's leading introduction to networking—fully updated for tomorrow's key technologies.
Computer Networks, Fourth Edition is the ideal introduction to today's networks—and tomorrow's. This classic best seller has been thoroughly updated to reflect the newest and most important networking technologies with a special emphasis on wireless networking, including 802.11, Bluetooth, broadband wireless, ad hoc networks, i-mode, and WAP. But fixed networks have not been ignored either with coverage of ADSL, gigabit Ethernet, peer-to-peer networks, NAT, and MPLS. And there is lots of new material on applications, including over 60 pages on the Web, plus Internet radio, voice over IP, and video on demand.Finally, the coverage of network security has been revised and expanded to fill an entire chapter.
Author, educator, and researcher Andrew S. Tanenbaum, winner of the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, carefully explains how networks work on the inside, from underlying hardware at the physical layer up through the top-level application layer. Tanenbaum covers all this and more:
- Physical layer (e.g., copper, fiber, wireless, satellites, and Internet over cable)
- Data link layer (e.g., protocol principles, protocol verification, HDLC, and PPP)
- MAC Sublayer (e.g., gigabit Ethernet, 802.11, broadband wireless, and switching)
- Network layer (e.g., routing algorithms, congestion control, QoS, IPv4, and IPv6)
- Transport layer (e.g., socket programming, UDP, TCP, RTP, and network performance)
- Application layer (e.g., e-mail, the Web, PHP, wireless Web, MP3, and streaming audio)
- Network security (e.g., AES, RSA, quantum cryptography, IPsec, and Web security)
The book gives detailed descriptions of the principles associated with each layer and presents many examples drawn from the Internet and wireless networks.
Synopsis
The world's leading introduction to networking—fully updated for tomorrow's key technologies.
Computer Networks, Fourth Edition is the ideal introduction to today's networks—and tomorrow's. This classic best seller has been thoroughly updated to reflect the newest and most important networking technologies with a special emphasis on wireless networking, including 802.11, Bluetooth, broadband wireless, ad hoc networks, i-mode, and WAP. But fixed networks have not been ignored either with coverage of ADSL, gigabit Ethernet, peer-to-peer networks, NAT, and MPLS. And there is lots of new material on applications, including over 60 pages on the Web, plus Internet radio, voice over IP, and video on demand.Finally, the coverage of network security has been revised and expanded to fill an entire chapter.
Author, educator, and researcher Andrew S. Tanenbaum, winner of the ACM Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, carefully explains how networks work on the inside, from underlying hardware at the physical layer up through the top-level application layer. Tanenbaum covers all this and more:
- Physical layer (e.g., copper, fiber, wireless, satellites, and Internet over cable)
- Data link layer (e.g., protocol principles, protocol verification, HDLC, and PPP)
- MAC Sublayer (e.g., gigabit Ethernet, 802.11, broadband wireless, and switching)
- Network layer (e.g., routing algorithms, congestion control, QoS, IPv4, and IPv6)
- Transport layer (e.g., socket programming, UDP, TCP, RTP, and network performance)
- Application layer (e.g., e-mail, the Web, PHP, wireless Web, MP3, and streaming audio)
- Network security (e.g., AES, RSA, quantumcryptography, IPsec, and Web security)
The book gives detailed descriptions of the principles associated with each layer and presents many examples drawn from the Internet and wireless networks.
Booknews
A textbook providing a clear explanation of the way networks work, from hardware technology up through the most popular network applications. Topics covered include the physical layer (copper, fiber, radio, and satellite communication); the data link layer (protocol principles, HDLC, SLIP, and PPP); the MAC sublayer (IEEE 802 LANs, bridges, new high-speed LANs); the network layer (routing, congestion control, internetworking, IPv6); the transport layer (transport protocol principles, TCP, network performance); and the application layer (cryptography, email, news, the Web, Java, and multimedia). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Editorials
Booknews
A textbook providing a clear explanation of the way networks work, from hardware technology up through the most popular network applications. Topics covered include the physical layer (copper, fiber, radio, and satellite communication); the data link layer (protocol principles, HDLC, SLIP, and PPP); the MAC sublayer (IEEE 802 LANs, bridges, new high-speed LANs); the network layer (routing, congestion control, internetworking, IPv6); the transport layer (transport protocol principles, TCP, network performance); and the application layer (cryptography, email, news, the Web, Java, and multimedia). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Don Bryson
Gee, I Didn't Know That ...
I evaluate every computer book by how many hours it will save me. If it takes twenty hours to read book, then I fully expect it to save me at least twenty hours of frustrated guessing. I'm a businessman first and a hacker second. Everything must have an ROI (Return On Investment).
Computer Networks won't save one minute over the next year. It has no step-by-step procedures, no problem solving sections, and no butt-saving tricks. The only purpose it can serve at a downed site is as a shield against thrown objects from frustrated users. Normally, theoretical books like this one receive a quick skim and are promptly sent to my for-looks-only tome tomb. However, this isn't a normal theoretical book. It's fascinating. In fact, I read it not once but three times. Tanenbaum fills over 700 pages with everything I didn't know, or better still, only thought I knew about networks.
For example, let me tell you what Tanenbaum taught me about modems. I have over ten years trench tech UNIX experience. I've hooked up thousands of modems. I've written more chat scripts, custom dialers, and inittab entries than I have sense to count. I even silently considered myself a modem expert -- before reading Tanenbaum's book.
Being the "expert" that I was, I had used the term carrier many times. I had also used that term many times before my computer days. I worked my way through college at a commercial broadcast station. A broadcast transmitter superimposes audio onto a sine wave called the carrier. However, until I read Computer Networks, I never made the connection between modems and transmitters. Tanenbaum points out that a modem works very much like a commercial transmitter and then proceeds to describe the different types of modem modulation in amazingly great detail. I no longer consider myself a modem expert.
That's why I read this book three times. I learned something new on every page and unlearned at least one misunderstanding in every chapter. I saw the gestalt between seemingly dissimilar things like modems and radio stations. The breadth and depth of the book yielded fresh fruit on every reading.
The book is well organized. Tanenbaum uses a modified ISO OSI (Open Systems Interconnection) reference model as a template for the book. While he drops the session and presentation layers, he leaves the physical, data link, network, transport, and application layers in his reference model. The explanation starts with the physical layer in chapter two and ends with the application layer in the last chapter. This bottom-up explanation is logical and easy to follow.
While the concepts could have been explained with the warmth of a legal brief, Tanenbaum has a gift for explaining them in an entertaining, conversational manner. True, everything must have an ROI. Sometimes, however, when it's entertaining enough, the sole joy of learning is enough of a return.--Dr. Dobb's Electronic Review of Computer Books.