Computer Networking A Top-down Approach Exercises

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Mandy Geise

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Aug 3, 2024, 6:09:03 PM8/3/24

to ricomadin

The book is sufficiently comprehensive for the introductory CS/EE courses. It covers topics from the top-down perspective of the OSI model. Most other books will start with a bottom-up approach. Fundamentals are covered in a systematic way.read more

Since the fundamentals of networking have remained the same, the topics covered are still relevant as an introductory understanding. Future releases could include more on security/cryptography to keep up with the latest changes.

Great book as an introductory courses for CS/ES classes. Cleary presented topics as described in the scope of the book. A great addition for understanding networking concepts. New revision could add latest technological updates.

Textbook covers almost all areas of TCP/IP Internet protocol except security, network management and protocols for real-time applications and Internet Application layer protocols such as FTP, SNMP, SMTP, and HTTP in details.read more

The publication of the textbook is 2011, which is almost 10 years old. It was not updated to cover the technological changes that appeared since 2011. The good part is most of the TCP/IP layers remained the same. The date of publication gives the impression that it is outdated or old in the minds of the readers and the students in the course. It will be beneficial to revise the textbook up-to-date. It will make it easier to adopt as a textbook for the relevant networking courses.

The presentation of materials is mostly clear. However, sometimes few abbreviations will appear without its expansion at its first appearance resulting in reader not knowing what it is. In other cases, a concept will appear without prior coverage of it and hence readers will not know what it is making the material difficult to understand.

The presentation of materials is consistent. However, sometimes few abbreviations will appear without its expansion at its first appearance resulting in reader not knowing what it is. In other cases, a concept will appear without prior coverage of it and hence readers will not know what it is making the material difficult to understand.

The networking technology is such that the chapters cannot be easily rearranged or read at random. Some of the concepts must be understood to learn the later materials. In this sense, there is certain level of rigidity in the presentation order of materials.

The author claims that the presentation is top down meaning present the chapters from Internet Application layer to physical layer, which is true for most part. However, in the first chapter is mixed layer presentation.

The presentation of materials is mostly free of interface issues. However, sometimes few abbreviations will appear without its expansion at its first appearance resulting in reader not knowing what it is. In other cases, a concept will appear without prior coverage of it and hence readers will not know what it is making the material difficult to understand

The last published date of the book is 2011, which is 9 years ago. It gives the impression that the book is old and less attractive to adopt even though TCP/IP Internet protocol as not changed much. The book should be revised soon with topics indicated below to be more attractive to adopt.

Security is a major issue nowadays. Also wireless LAN used by more and more people and schools. Cellular network supporting the cell phones with Internet access has become normal. In fact, more cell phones are in use and sold compared to laptops and desktops. Including a chapter about cellular network will be helpful.
Presentation of various materials could be improved. Somehow it feels like the material presented is a bunch of monotonous paragraphs of text making it less attractive to read with interest compared to most textbooks. It makes it less attractive to keep reading paying attention to details. Appearance of the figures could be improved to be more attractive.
Overall the book is adaptable as a free text given the fact that the textbooks are very expensive and is not affordable for almost all students taking or more courses in a semester. Even the used textbook is not cheap.
I have not seen any information about instructor materials like PowerPoint slides presentation of each chapter, exam/quiz questions, etc. It will be helpful to information about these materials included in the textbook including how to get access to them.
At this point, I am inclined to adapt the book for my networking course.

The book is more sufficiently comprehensive for an a single or introductory networking class for in an EE or CS program. It is sufficiently conceptual with good visuals and does not delve into programming for either explications or exercises....read more

All books in this field require constant refreshing - and the Open format may be much more amenable than print. Emerging topics - cloud, virtualization, software-defined assets - impact networking and will motivate further updates.

Clarity is a strength of the book. The author uses plain language, supported by appropriate graphics and symbology. Moreover, the author uses more personal sidebars throughout to add context and the right touch of informality.

The book embraces the better approach of "climbing the protocol ladder" which builds a framework for the cumulative understanding. Concepts are introduced in this order, such that material is consistently defined before further used.

I am the last among my colleagues to adopt - and advocate for - a textbook. Evidence shows that having a common body of knowledge - taxonomy and ontology - improves our departmental outcomes. However, commercial options are both stale and costly, so this book (or one like it) may become our "common reader." I will adopt this next semester for a graduate class - on the strength of the later quantitative elements - and will make an internal recommendation at that time.

What I found interesting about this book is the author's approach to order of topic discussion. As was pointed out in the introduction, most textbooks that discuss computer networking, and the OSI and TCP/IP models specifically, is that it is standard practice to begin with the physical layer and make your way up to the application layer. In this text, readers were introduced to the application layer first. The rationale behind this is that the audience has changed dramatically since computer networking came into existence. Most students have had fairly extensive exposure to the Internet, so approaching it from the point at where these individuals are on familiar ground may make it more engaging for them and assist in information retention. Many of these students are not engineers, so starting out with bits and bytes may be less appealing to them. The text is a good adaptation of this way of thinking and I feel it could be very effective in bringing in and retaining future technologists.

Although this book takes a different approach to introducing computer networking to students, the fundamentals of networking are fairly stationary. This author refrained from that level of specificity that would render this book obsolete within a relatively short period of time.

The book makes itself available in a modular approach. An example of this may be that an instructor may decide to only discuss the data-link and network layers when covering traditional layer 2 and 3 routing and switching.

The text covered the topics in logical, clear fashion. As I mentioned earlier, the order in which the topics are presented differ from other texts commonly used for this topic, but I do not see that as a detriment, but more a benefit to a more technically proficient student body.

I enjoyed reviewing this text. I feel Dr. Bonaventure put together a well written textbook and I appreciate his approach in reorganizing topics based on a changing audience. I would recommend this book as a solid textbook for an introductory/intermediate networking class.

This open textbook aims to fill the gap between the open-source implementations and the open-source network specifications by providing a detailed but pedagogical description of the key principles that guide the operation of the Internet.

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