TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1: The Protocols (Addison-Wesley Professional Computing Series)

I've been trying to unearth the details of exactly what TCP/IP is and is not for quite some time - although I've been using it both as a consumer and as a programmer for years, all of the pieces never quite *clicked* until I found this book. I knew, for example, that my PC somehow obtained an IP address using something called "DHCP" and that my browser somehow translated "www.amazon.com" into an IP address using something called "DNS" - I knew that there was a thing called "UDP" that was parallel to "TCP", but I didn't know how they were related... in short, I knew the how, but not the why. This book covers, in minute detail, exactly what's going on - it stops short of describing how many electrons flow in and out of your ethernet card during a typical TCP/IP session, but that's about the last level of detail you could hope for. And, amazingly enough - it's a good read! I actually found myself staying up late just to "finish this chapter", because the author's writing style is so engaging.

The only bad thing I can say about this book is it is a bit outdated. I however would not recommend ANY book over this one. It's THE book for learning the tcp/ip protocol suite. I think I've read this book at least 3 times and I'm probably due in for a 4th time. I rank this as my favorite computer book. So really I give it 10 stars out of 5 ;)

if you have any intention of getting into any aspect of
networking/systems, then this book is a must read. if you
already work in networking and you have not read this book
twice, then you should take a leave-of-absence and READ IT.
the writing is easy to follow, descriptive, and as the title
says, illustrated. stevens shows you, using common unix tools,
what is going on, at the protocol level. even if you aren't a
unix user (why not???), the explanations are easily applied
using windows-based tools.
reading this book should be part of every basic (and advanced)
course in networking/security/systems/etc.

Another masterpiece by the late Richard Stevens. This book is an essential read for anyone who wants to understand what goes on at the protocol level whenever any kind of interaction happens on the internet. Take any application level protocol - FreeNet, P2P, RTP, and you will understand its underpinnings thoroughly after having read this book. If you find the content a bit overwhelming, make sure you read Tanenbaum's "Computer Networks" before diving into this book.

This book caused quite a stir when it first came out. It had unprecedent detail, clarity and insight. It is a good book, however like most protocol books you often have to search hard to find the bits that are relevant when using it as reference. This is particular issue as this book only covers part of the story -- as there are a series of these books. By the way, there is another series of books that preceeds these that covered TCP/IP in great detail, including protocol code -- probably World Wide Web though. There may be other newer books available now that are as good or better. Also, the Internet related protocols continue to evolve so books in this domain tend to become a little dated after a couple of years. It is not that they become invalid, it is more that they become increasingly less complete.