Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Fourth Edition

by Larry L. Peterson, Bruce S. Davie

Computer Networks, Fourth Edition, continues to provide an enduring, practical understanding of networks and their building blocks through rich, example-based instruction. This expanded and completely updated edition covers the why of network design, focusing not just the specifications comprising today's systems but how key technologies and protocols actually work in the real world to solve specific problems. It is the only introductory computer networking book written by authors who have had first-hand experience with many of the protocols discussed in the text, who have actually designed some of them as well, and who are still actively designing the computer networks today. The book makes less use of computer code to explain protocols than earlier editions. Moreover, this new edition shifts the focus somewhat higher in the protocol stack where there is generally more innovative and exciting work going on at the application and session layers than at the link and physical layers. Other new features increased accessibility by clearly separating the advanced material from more fundamental via special headings and boxed features; the material is structured in such a way as to make it easier to teach top-down. Furthermore, the book outstrips the competitors in offering a more robust ancillary package for student and instructor support. The text is complemented with figures as well as links to networking resources on the Web and links to author-created materials on author-maintained Web site. Computer Networks, Fourth Edition, will be an invaluable resource for networking professionals and upper level undergraduate and graduate students in CS, EE, and CSE programs.

Genres: Computer Science, Reference, Textbooks, Technology, Technical, Computers, Nonfiction

848 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Dan Drake]

Note that this book can be legally and freely downloaded from https://www.academia.edu/32415264/_Larry_L._Peterson_Bruce_S._Davie_Computer_Netwo_BookFi_.

[Alejandro Teruel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent book and should be seriously considered as a classroom textbook or reference book for one or two introductory courses on computer networks for computer scientists, computer engineering or telecommunication engineers at an upper-division undergraduate or first year graduate level.

I taught a course on distributed systems back in the late 1980s and used Tanenbaum’s book on networks as one of the key references to provide an introduction to the seven layers of the ISO/OSI network model. In the 1990s I put the field aside and devoted myself to parallel computation. While I remained vaguely aware of advances in computer networks, I recently wanted to find a book that would allow me to develop a better feeling for the field in the 2010s. This book, published in 2012 fitted the bill perfectly. It is very readable and its separation of some material into introductory and advanced levels is very sensible, for example for switching, routing, and internetworking (chapter three contains the introductory material and chapter contains more advanced material such as BGP, IP version 6 and multicasting) and transport protocols which are covered in chapters 5 and 6 in a similar way, leaving the fascinating but more advanced topic of TCP congestion control algorithms to chapter 6.

I particularly enjoyed the “where are they now?” sidebars which focus on the success and failure of specific protocols in the real world.

There is some unevenness in the depth of coverage of different chapters, but I think this is to be expected in such a rich field -for example, I got the impression that there is more algorithmic detail in the first chapters (say up to chapter five). I also liked the attention given to wireless networks and the all too brief section on routing for mobile devices.

Each reader will probably enjoy some chapter more than others, according to his tastes, background and interests. In my case I very much enjoyed chapter 3 (Internetworking), 6 (congestion control though I found the more advanced sections quite an effort), 7 (end-to-end data, that is presentation level protocols), and particularly 9 (applications, which covers protocols for electronic mail, multimedia applications, name service, network management, and overlay networks) -perhaps it is not coincidental that these are the chapters that the authors state contain major new or substantially updated topics in the fifth edition:

- Updated material on wireless technology, particularly the various flavors of 802.11 (Wi-Fi) as well as cellular wireless technologies including the third generation (3G) and emerging 4G standards.
- Updated coverage of congestion control mechanisms, particularly for high bandwidth-delay product networks and wireless networks.
- Updated material on Web Services, including the SOAP and REST (Representational State Trnsfer) architectures.
- Expanded and updated coverage of interdomain routing and the border gateway protocol (BGP).
- Expanded coverage on protocols for multimedia applications such as voice over IP (VOIP) and video streaming.

I felt chapter 8 (Network security) was one of the least successful, and did not quite hit the sweet spot between excessive detail and sweeping vagueness. I do not consider the section on firewalls sufficiently complete and the example systems were, in my opinion, dealt with far too briefly. In my copy of the fifth edition, the equations in chapter 2 are missing operators (multiplication, division, subtraction and addition signs) which is really annoying. Why this should happen in a fifth edition is beyond me (this is not new material!) and whether all fifth editions have the same problem or whether this happens only for copies typeset by diacriTech, India is beyond me.

Since I merely glanced at the exercises I will not venture an opinion on them, except to mention that the starred exercises certainly seem to be more for graduate than undergraduate students. I did not make use of the free downloadable network simulation software available for the book, although I confess I am still sorely tempted to try it out sometime in the future. The book includes loads of recommended further readings -the sheer amount will probably look excessively daunting for undergraduates and, at first glance -and I may well be mistaken here-, appear to favor key historical papers rather than more recent surveys of research work.

[Nivas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Textbook for computer networks course

[Jesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book roughly follows a bottom-up structure similar to Computer Networks. But instead of strictly traversing the OSI-TCP/IP network stack, Computer Networks: A Systems Approach is written from the perspective of systems, their components, and their requirements. This makes it easier to understand how they interact, and how that affects today's network(ed) applications. A downside of this approach is that the reader needs to put in more effort to create a mental model in which to place all this knowledge.

I like the book. I think it would work well for a bachelor-level Computer Networks course. To improve further, I think the book could benefit from a larger focus on applications. Using one or multiple running examples throughout the book could make it easier to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of different components and designs.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be an extremely helpful overview of the topic as a reader with a reasonable background in general computing but very little background in networking specifically. While a few years old at this point, the edition does not feel particularly dated, and most of the core protocols described are still in use (or even more relevant than when the book was published, in some cases). Provides plenty of good references to more specific technical topics in each chapter to pick and choose from.

[Zhuzi_20 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is equivalent to Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software. After reading it, moving on to Tanenbaum's Computer Networks becomes much easier. The only regret is that the illustrations in the book are surprisingly not vector graphics.

[Tine · Rating 4 out of 5]

🙏

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can't really fault this book. Very informative and well explained. This edition is 20 years old but given the technology being discussed is still in use today it's still very relevant.

[Hi2syed]

This is one of the best book while u are trying to make some understanding of computer network

[Scott]

More fun computer stuff..

[Joe Martin]

"Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, 3rd Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking) by Larry L. Peterson (2003)"

[Vijikesh · Rating 5 out of 5]

nice

[Henning · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a truly amazing book that explains most little details about how the network protocols really works. If you want to understand networking, this is the book.

[Sunil Ratnakar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Though not abysmal but provides a strong training for the deep dive. A must read book for computer networks enthusiast.

[Jagan]

superb