List Price: $109.00Amazon.com's Price: $86.86 You Save: $22.14 (20%)as of 11/24/2009 09:33 EST
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
This item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping.
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 004.6
EAN: 9780136079675
Edition: 5
ISBN: 0136079679
Label: Addison Wesley
Manufacturer: Addison Wesley
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 864
Publication Date: March 31, 2009
Publisher: Addison Wesley
Studio: Addison Wesley
Related Items:
Alternate Versions: Click to Display
Browse for similar items by category: Click to Display
Editorial Review:
Amazon.com Review:
Certain data-communication protocols hog the spotlight, but all of them have a lot in common. Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet explains the engineering problems that are inherent in communicating digital information from point to point. The top-down approach mentioned in the subtitle means that the book starts at the top of the protocol stack--at the application layer--and works its way down through the other layers, until it reaches bare wire.
The authors, for the most part, shun the well-known seven-layer Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) protocol stack in favor of their own five-layer (application, transport, network, link, and physical) model. It's an effective approach that helps clear away some of the hand waving traditionally associated with the more obtuse layers in the OSI model. The approach is definitely theoretical--don't look here for instructions on configuring Windows 2000 or a Cisco router--but it's relevant to reality, and should help anyone who needs to understand networking as a programmer, system architect, or even administration guru.
The treatment of the network layer, at which routing takes place, is typical of the overall style. In discussing routing, authors James Kurose and Keith Ross explain (by way of lots of clear, definition-packed text) what routing protocols need to do: find the best route to a destination. Then they present the mathematics that determine the best path, show some code that implements those algorithms, and illustrate the logic by using excellent conceptual diagrams. Real-life implementations of the algorithms--including Internet Protocol (both IPv4 and IPv6) and several popular IP routing protocols--help you to make the transition from pure theory to networking technologies. --David Wall
Topics covered: The theory behind data networks, with thorough discussion of the problems that are posed at each level (the application layer gets plenty of attention). For each layer, there's academic coverage of networking problems and solutions, followed by discussion of real technologies. Special sections deal with network security and transmission of digital multimedia.
Product Description:
KEY BENEFIT: An emphasis on application-layer paradigms and application programming interfaces, encourages a lively, hands-on experience with protocols and networking concepts. KEY TOPICS: Computer Networks and the Internet; Application Layer; Transport Layer; Network Layer; Link Layer and LANs; Wireless and Mobile Networks; Multimedia Networking; Security in Computer Networks; Network Management; New discussions of VPN, IPsec, VLAN and updated technology treatment. MARKET: A useful reference for computer networking professionals.
Average Rating: 
Rating:  -
wonderful in time delivery and book is looking great.... its just like new book :)
thanks
Rating: -
I needed it for an SMTP application and it had all of the information required.
Rating: -
This review compares the following four books:
Computer Networks by Peterson and Davie (P & D)
Computer Networks by Tanenbaum
Computer Networks by Comer / Internetworking with TCP/IP
Computer Networking by Kurose and Ross (K & R)
By far the best book in the list is "Computer Networking" by Kurose and Ross. This book covers all of the essential material that is in the other books but manages to do so in a relevant and entertaining way. This book is very up to date as seen by the release of the 5th Ed when the 4th Ed is barely two years old. There are lots of practical exercises using wireshark and the companion website is actually useful and relevant. The attitude of this book with regard to teaching networking concepts could be summed up as "try it out and see for yourself". One interesting thing to note is that the socket programming example are all in Java.
Next up is the Peterson and Davie book which covers everything that Kurose and Ross discuss but is slightly more mathematical in how it goes about things. There are a lot more numerical examples and defining of formulas in this book which is fine by me and in no way detracts from the book. Also the socket programming examples are in C which is a little more traditional. The points where this text loses ground to K & R is that it doesn't have the practical application exercises that K & R has and it also doesn't extend the basic networking theory that is covered to modern protocols like K & R.
The two Comer books come next. Comer's "Computer Networks" book is probably the most introductory book out of this whole list and is more of a survey of networking topics that doesn't cover anything in any real depth. Still, this is an excellent book in that it is a quick clear read that is very lucid in its explanations and you can't help feeling that you understand everything that is covered in the book. Comer's TCP/IP book is the equivalent of the other authors' computer network books and in that respect it is pretty average. It covers all of the relevant material and in a manner which is more than readable but that is all. There is nothing exceptional about the book which stands out from the rest.
Last comes Tanenbaum's book from the author who is probably most famous for his OS books. This is probably the most technical and detailed of the books with lots of sample C code belying is experience with operating systems and their network stack code. The weak point of this book is that all of the code and technical minutia might prevent the reader from seeing the forest for the trees. Unless you are trying to learn how to program your own network stack for a Unix/Linux system, then I would get either the K & R book or the P & D book to learn networking for the first time. This book would best be served as a reference in which case the technical nature of the book becomes a benefit rather than detracting from the text.
Rating: -
This book is a thoroughly enjoyable learning experience!!! I bought this book before Christmas out of curiosity and out of a potential need to learn more about computer networking and brush up on it when asked about it on a technical interview.
Since I already had certified as a Java Enterprise Architect, which required knowledge of Java 2 Network Security and protocols such as HTTP, HTTPS, IIOP, JRMP, I had some limited, specialized knowledge of network protocols. However, this book really gave me much more background on the Internet than I had anticipated and it broadened my perspective about future technology developments, which will probably continue to be born out of the Internet. Should it be no surprise that a language such as Java, which started out as a network programming language has become much more than that? No doubt the Internet has proven to be much larger of an influence in the world than ever expected. For example, years ago I remember reading about the seven-layer ISO OSI reference model using in data communications in telecommunications. This book made it clear that this has all been compacted into a five-layer Internet protocol stack. Something arcane and mystical has been simplified and is very public domain.
This book covers the five-layer protocol stack: Application Layer, Transport Layer, Network Layer, Link Layer, and Physical Layer. I thought I might be turned off by some of the geeky topics in the network protocols, but instead I found them quite tasty too and I gobbled up the whole book.
The introduction chapter outlined most of the topics covered in later chapters such as each of the layer protocols and then topics that build on them such as security, wireless and mobile networks, multimedia networking, and network management.
Some of my major learning experiences included: DSL, circuit switching, packet switching, application protocols, DNS servers, socket programming using either TCP or UDP, building reliable data transfer protocols such as TCP, TCP congestion control, routers, IPv4 and IPv6, routing algorithms, designing subnet IP addresses, network interface cards/MAC addresses, Ethernet protocol details, and then some.
I also used the book's programming assignment downloads, and Ethernet Wireshark labs, study guides and self-assessment tests. All of this really anchors and expands upon the topics covered in each chapter. This book and the online learning aids was more fun and brain expanding than sudoku puzzles!
Rating: -
This book is very easy to understand, but some of the assignment is challege. I learn a lot from this book.
|
