Computer Networks & Internets

This textbook for a two-semester undergraduate course in networking is divided into four sections--low-level transmission, packet switching, internetworking, and network applications. The new edition adds three chapters on tools students can use to explore the Internet, long-distance digital connection technologies, and RPC and middleware. The CD-ROM includes photographs of network wiring. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

Few authors have the ability to present deep technical subjects with the clarity and accessibility that Comer so routinely provides readers of varying backgrounds. Perhaps his experiences as a member of the Internet Architecture Board and his close interaction and collaboration with researchers who invented the Internet helped to give him the perspective needed to present the underlying technology so well, and recognize the Internet's potential when most people didn't know it existed. He is unique because, unlike many researchers, he has been able to share his in-depth knowledge of networking in an entertaining way, with diverse audiences of students and professionals throughout the world, in the renowned courses he teaches at Purdue University and Networld+Interop events. It is not surprising that his groundbreaking, best selling Internetworking with TCP/IP Series is considered to be the "bible" for Internet technology for students, programmers, network implementors and administrators, and technical managers.

Douglas Comer is a professor at Purdue University. He was one of the researchers who contributed to the formation of the Internet in the late 1970s and 1980s. He has served on the Internet Architecture Board, the group responsible for guiding development of the Internet. He wrote this book in response to everyone who has asked him for an explanation of Computer Networking that is technically correct, comprehensive, and accessible to undergraduates. He has had an Internet connection in his home since 1981.