Course Syllabus

This is a highly approximate syllabus. Expect topics, assignments, ordering, and almost everything else to change.

• Week One: Background
• Week Two: C Programming
• Week Three: C Programming, Continued
• Week Four: Direct-Link Networks
• Week Five: Packet Switching
• Week Six: Internetworking
• Week Seven: Pause for Breath
• Week Eight: End-To-End Protocols
• Break
• Week Nine: Programming Unix Sockets
• Week Ten: Advanced Unix Sockets
• Week Eleven: Allocating Resources
• Week Twelve: Network Security
• Week Thirteen: Internet Protocols
• Week Fourteen: Wrapup
• Final

Week One: Background

Readings: Peterson and Davie, Chapter 1

Class 01 (Tuesday, January 25, 2000) Introduction to the Course

• About computer networks
• Some key issues: reliability, routing, resources, round-trip, and rate
• Network architecture, from bottom to top
• Course overview
• Handouts:
  • Course Overview (taken from the Course Web

Class 02 (Wednesday, January 26, 2000) Requirements and Network Architecture

• Shortest path, revisited
• Issues, revisited
• Layered architectures
• The OSI model
• The Internet model

Class 03 (Friday, January 28, 2000) Network Building Blocks

• The Internet model
• Protocol graphs
• Introduction to sockets
• Introduction to C

Week Two: C Programming

Readings: K&R

Class 04 (Monday, January 31, 2000) Background

Class 05 (Wednesday, February 2, 2000) C Basics

• Hello World
• Some C basics
• Exercises: Compiling and writing simple C programs

Class 06 (Friday, February 4, 2000) Types: Typedefs, Enums, Structs, Unions, and Arrays

• Type basics
• Compound types: structs and arrays
• Exercise: enumerated types

Week Three: C Programming, Continued

Readings:

Class 07 (Monday, February 7, 2000) Headers and Makefiles

• Header files
• Unix make
• Due:
  • Homework 1: A Simple Chat Program

Class 08 (Wednesday, February 9, 2000) Pointers

• Variables
• Pointers and addresses
• Pointers in various langauges
• Pointer pitfalls

Class 09 (Friday, February 11, 2000) Memory Management

• Pointers and arrays
• Allocation and deallocation
• Experiments: allocation, deallocation, and aliasing

Week Four: Direct-Link Networks

Readings: Peterson and Davie, Chapter 2

Class 10 (Monday, February 14, 2000) Data-Link Basics

• Introduction to direct-link networks
• Basics of information theory
• Representing bits
• The problem of framing
• Handouts:
  • Notes on assignment 1
  • A strategy for printing debugging messages

Class 11 (Wednesday, February 16, 2000) Error Detection

Class 12 (Friday, February 18, 2000) Common Structures

Week Five: Packet Switching

Readings: Peterson and Davie, Chapter 3

Class 13 (Monday, February 21, 2000) Switching and Forwarding

Class 14 (Wednesday, February 23, 2000) Bridges and Switches

Class 15 (Friday, February 25, 2000) ATM

Week Six: Internetworking

Readings: Peterson and Davie, Chapter 4

Class 16 (Monday, February 28, 2000) IP

Class 17 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000) Routing

Class 18 (Friday, March 3, 2000) Multicast

Week Seven: Pause for Breath

Readings: None

Class 19 (Monday, March 6, 2000) Review for Exam

Class 20 (Wednesday, March 8, 2000) Examination

Class 21 (Friday, March 10, 2000) Special Topic

Week Eight: End-To-End Protocols

Readings: Peterson and Davie, Chapter 5

Class 22 (Monday, March 13, 2000) TCP

Class 23 (Wednesday, March 15, 2000) TCP, Revisited

Class 24 (Friday, March 17, 2000) RPC

Break

Break runs from 5:00 p.m. on Friday, March 17, 1998 to 8:00 a.m. on Monday, April 3.

Week Nine: Programming Unix Sockets

Readings: Stevens, Parts 1 and 2

Class 25 (Monday, April 3, 2000) Socket Basics

Class 26 (Wednesday, April 5, 2000) Simple Client/Server Pairs

Class 27 (Friday, April 7, 2000) Handling Multiple Clients

Week Ten: Advanced Unix Sockets

Readings: Stevens, Part 3

Class 28 (Monday, April 10, 2000) Nonblocking I/O

Class 29 (Wednesday, April 12, 2000) Broadcasting and Multicasting

Class 30 (Friday, April 14, 2000) Signals and Threads

Week Eleven: Allocating Resources

Readings: Peterson and Davie, Chapter 6

Class 31 (Monday, April 17, 2000) Sharing Resources

Class 32 (Wednesday, April 19, 2000) Congestion Control

Class 33 (Friday, April 21, 2000) Quality of Service

Week Twelve: Network Security

Readings: Peterson and Davie, Chapter 8

Class 34 (Monday, April 24, 2000) Cryptographic Algorithms

Class 35 (Wednesday, April 26, 2000) Security Mechanisms

Class 36 (Friday, April 28, 2000) Firewalls

Week Thirteen: Internet Protocols

Readings: Peterson and Davie, Chapter 9

Class 37 (Monday, May 1, 2000) Domain Name Service

Class 38 (Wednesday, May 3, 2000) FTP

Class 39 (Friday, May 5, 2000) Mail Protocols

Week Fourteen: Wrapup

Readings: None

Class 40 (Monday, May 8, 2000) HTTP

Class 41 (Wednesday, May 10, 2000) Course Evaluation

Class 42 (Friday, May 12, 2000) Wrapup

Final