04832250: Syllabus

The required textbook for the course is Computer Networks (5th Edition), by Andrew Tanenbaum and David Wetherall, Prentice Hall. This will not cover all the material in the book, but slides are detailed.

Another textbook that you can use as a substitute is Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (6th Edition), by Jim Kurose and Keith Ross, Addison Wesley.

For the programming projects, please see Dave's Notes on Software Engineering for Systems Hackers.

There are a few recommended texts which are useful references (especially if networking becomes your career).

• Data and Computer Communications (10th Edition) by W. William Stallings
• Unix Network Programming: Networking APIs: Sockets and XTI (Volume 1) by W. Richard Stevens.
• Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment by W. Richard Stevens, Addison-Wesley, 1993.

Finally, if you have not taken an "Introduction to Computer System" course, you may find this textbook useful as a gentle, software-focused introduction to computer architecture.

• Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective by Randal E. Bryant and David R. O'Hallaron. Prentice Hall, 2003

Your final grade for the course will be based on the following weights for the individual assignments:

• 30+% Class participation
• 20% Midterm (Optional)
• 50% Research Project

Take the project deadlines seriously. You can extend the deadlines with a 10% penalty per day. Note that any submissions will NOT be accepted 48 hours after the due date.