CS 3251: Computer Networks I

Overview

Communications networks are fundamental to our everyday lives. Whether for enabling global scale commerce or connecting long lost friends, these systems have created an unparalleled age of information. Accordingly, knowledge of such systems is critical for all scientists and engineers. This course provides an overview of networking technologies. Students satisfactorily completing this course will gain the skills necessary to analyze and design networking systems and protocols. The course will begin with the application layer, looking at design patterns present in common application layer protocols. We then move down the network stack, considering topics such as reliable transmission and congestion control at the transport layer, routing at the network layer, and multiple access protocols at the link layer. After this discussion, the latter portion of the course will include wireless and mobile networks, queuing fundamentals, security, Quality of Service (QoS), and network management.

A detailed list of lectures, readings, assignments, due dates (subject to change as the semester evolves) is available on the course schedule.

There are two mandatory books for this course:

• James F. Kurose and Keith W. Ross, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach, 5th ed, ISBN: 0-136-07967-5.
• Michael J. Donahoo and Kenneth L. Calvert, TCP/IP Sockets in C: Practical Guide for Programmers, ISBN: 978-1-55860-826-9.

Grading

Students will be evaluated based on the following breakdown (Yes, I know that they add up to 120%):

• 25% Homework
• 20% Projects
• 25% Midterm (scheduled on Oct. 20th in class)
  
• 35% Final (scheduled on Dec. 9th from 9:00am to 10:50am)
• 15% Participation in teaching evaluation
  

Exam

The course will include one midterm and one final exam. Students will be responsible for material covered both in the text AND lectures. Attendance is therefore strongly encouraged as not all class discussions will be covered in the text.

Homework and Projects

This course will consist of five homework and two programming projects.  All homework assignments and projects should be submitted through T-square.  Homework assignments are due at the beginning of class. Projects must be written in the C programming language and submitted via T-square by 11:55pm EST on the due date. See the lateness policy below.

Class Participation

To do well in this course, students must take active and regular roles in discussion and demonstrate comprehension of the papers and research themes.

Lateness Policy

Please try your best to turn in homework assignments and projects on time.  Each student is allowed a total of 4 "late days".  Once you use up the quota, no late homework assingment or project will be accepted.  The smallest granuality of time is a day, which means if a homework assignment or project is late for an hour, it is considered as being late for a day.

Participation in Teaching Evaluation

Every student MUST fill in the course survey form and print out and submit the "receipt page" (worth 15% of the final grade).

Academic Integrity Policy

Students are required to follow the university guidelines on academic conduct at all times. Students failing to meet these standards will be reported to the Office of Student Integrity, which can result in the student receiving an 'F' for the semester. Note that students are explicitly forbidden from copying anything off of the Internet (e.g., source code, text, slides), using anything from an answer guide, or copying code/answers from each other for the purposes of completing any assignment or a course project.

Acknowledgment