I used this for a networking class, the professor sucked but the book was actually pretty interesting.
One negative part, I thought their explanation of CRC sucked (although I haven't been able to find a better explanation online). Our prof told us it had errors.
The text is extremely small & hard to read on my Fire. I can make it bigger, but the text doesn't wrap. This is extremely disappointing for a book costing $92. I haven't run into this problem with any other books I've downloaded so far. I expected better that what looks like nothing more than a fixed text pdf version of the book.
The chapters are really long, but good explanations and a lot of anecdotal examples. Also comes with interesting wireshark labs and programming assignments.
Its is a well organized, well written textbook for a first course in Computer Networks. The exercises, the labs and the companion website are helpful. The book is constantly updated; this 6th edition is no different.
I have the International Edition and so can only speak for that. This is the recommended text for our Data Comm course and and I find that the book does a good job given the fact I have zero background in this area. The lecturer also used the slides prepared by the authors so everything tied in nicely. If you do get the book, I would recommend that you check out the student's resources at the publisher's website. There are useful animations that enhance understanding of the material and the one that sticks in my mind concerns routing, MAC addresses and IP addresses. One final note, if you wish to learn subnetting painlessly you will need more material. My advice is to download the 3Com paper referenced by the authors, I read it and it was like a light was switched on.
I purchased the international version of this textbook, as a softcover, in an attempt to save money.
Before purchasing, I asked the seller I purchased from (not disclosed for privacy) whether the book was identical. He said (in more or less words) that the international differs minimally, and often the look and ISBN are different, but content is practically the same.
Unfortunately that wasn't the case, and the content in the chapters, and review questions were different.
Other then that, the book is fine if you aren't required to use the question sections in class, but that was a big deal for me.
This book arrived much quicker than I expected, especially considering how far it had to travel to get here (It arrived faster than other items I have previously ordered that shipped from much much closer). The books spine was damaged a bit when it got here, however, I kind of expected it to get beat up a bit considering how far it had to come. Also, I don't blame them at all for this. It's just one of those gambles you take because it goes from different shipping locations where it gets tossed around and sorted. I'm just happy they have such great shipping and I was able to save a ton of money on this school book by ordering through them.
The analogies given are very good.However, not every book covers all the topics equally well...so is the case with this book ..I haven't read it yet beyond the 4th chapter so I can't say much about the rest of the book but it definetly lacks good diagrams and pictures. For example when explaining the internals of a router and how it works, it would be much better if a labeled picture of internals of a router is there included like in cisco modules..The explanation is good but most of the time, due to lack of good diagrams, it gets difficult to grasp the idea instantly and I have to refer to google images to get it right.
Since computer networking is still not a very well developed field- there are still a lot of things that are still developing (such as software-defined networking, video-streaming applications, P2P networks, new TCP congestion policies, and new routing algorithms.....). This textbook tries to cover as many topics as possible- but not in enough depth- just like a bunch of research papers putting together into one book and maybe try to make them correlate them with each other.
It is also slightly disorganized and sometimes leaves out some important details.
But so far- this is still the best textbook for computer networking- since you don't have much choice anyway.
A better way to learn computer networking may be enrolling some online courses rather than reading textbooks.
A really good book.. Recommended to me by my professor for her course... Gives a very good understanding of the subject if you know a bit about networks already... Still, I would not recommend it for anyone who is looking for an in depth knowledge into networing as this is a general overview of everything that there is in networks.
This is a very good Kindle version compared to other Kindle textbooks I have bought. It does not come with the access code for student resources, so if you need that, you are out of luck. It is a good read, and explains things well. I like it. But I'm mad about the access code.
No doubt this is an excellent book for academics. There are thorough topics with detailed explanations. First some negatives before I go onto positives. Quickly glancing at the book, there are not many diagrams. I would have preferred lot of diagrams. Also I miss many practical examples for professionals, maybe Richard Steven's book is ore apt for that. I would have still preferred examples on Linux where applicable. Other problem is on physical condition. The hardcover was almost torn on arrival and after one day the hard cover came out from the book. I would have preferred a slightly larger font/better quality. I have a feeling the publishers are focusing on electronic format more than ever. Maybe iPad/Kindle editions are better.
Not for positives, The explanations on the layers are fantastic. There is an introduction on Layer 7 HTTP in beginning, and it is explained in detail later on. The chapters on TCP is really good. Overall for learning computer networks for a BS/MS course this book is very good.
The most important aspect to this book are the exercises. Some of the best problems in any networking book are found in this book. It instills the readers a keen interest to think and ponder over issues. Problems and good exercises make a book ultimately. Group study/class discussions can benefit a lot for instructors. Overall my recommendation is this is a very good for academics. For working professionals, I would lean towards Richard Steven's TCP/IP illustrated Volume 1 Edition 2.
Product Details :
Hardcover: 864 pages
Publisher: Pearson; 6th edition (March 5, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0132856204
ISBN-13: 978-0132856201
Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 1.3 x 9.4 inches
More Details about Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach 6th Edition
or
Download Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach 6th Edition PDF Ebook
No comments:
Post a Comment