Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (4th Edition)

It's too bad that Amazon doesn't include reviews for previous editions of textbooks. The previous editions of this book had forty-two total reviews, and they average out to 4.5 stars. Unfortunately, this edition's rating is skewed by some students who appear to attributing their poor grade to the book.

I'm a fan of these authors. If you look at a previous edition of Computer Networking you'll see just how great this book's reviews are.

This is a very good textbook for students and practitioners, who want to understand the stratum on which many modern applications are built: the Internet. For such readers, this book will be a very good source of information. If you want to build Internet-based applications, the knowledge that you can acquire from this book is indispensable.

If you are interested in networks other than the Internet, or if you are interested in network theory, or in network engineering, this book is not for you.

As an introductory textbook, the homework in the fourth edition of "Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach" by James F. Kurose relies to a degree on the PowerPoint slides available on the textbook's website. Some homework questions cannot be answered from the textbook alone. Those homework questions can only be answered by reading through the PowerPoint slides or using an outside source (such as the relevant RFCs).

Example: A homework question gave that an HTTP message was version 1.1 and did not mention anything else about the connection. That homework question then asked if the HTTP connection was persistent or non-persistent. The PowerPoint slides go into HTTP versions and persistence; however, the textbook doesn't mention that HTTP 1.1 defaults to a persistent connection . . . it only mentions persistence in general while discussing HTTP.

IMO, it would be better to have all the information relevant to a homework question in the textbook . . . or clearly indicate, that a student needs to search outside of the text or attain the answer.

All in all, the 4th edition is a good book . . . that could be better.

Hope This Helps,
Joshua Burkholder

"Computer Networking" by Kurose and Ross is an excellent introduction to the topic of computer networking as it relates to the largest and arguably most important network of them all: the internet. As stated in the title, the authors take a top-down approach that, in my opinion, is very well suited to CS or SE majors who are typically already familiar with aspects of the application and transport layers, but who often have had little or no training (or interest) at the physical layer. In this way Kurose's text distinguishes itself from other popular texts such as those by Stallings ("Data and Computer Communications") or Tanenbaum ("Computer Networks").

There are a total of nine chapters, the first of which paints the big picture and lays out the plan for the book. The book presents a analysis of each layer of the 5-layer TCP/IP model. The decision to use the TCP/IP model over the OSI model is appropriate considering the authors' intentions of focusing on the internet. To accomplish their goal the authors next provide chapters on the application, transport, network and data-link layers respectively. The coverage of the application and transport layers are where the book seperates itself from both Tanenbaum and (especially) Stallings. In addition to providing the theory Kurose and Ross also inject practical demonstrations such as introducing the reader to socket programming in Java. The coverage of the network and datalink layers is somewhat more standard, but still very good and complete. Following these are chapters on wireless and mobile networks, multi-media networking, network security, and a small chapter on network management. Coverage of the physical layer is spread throughout all of the chapters in the book and presented on a "need-to-know" basis. Each chapter presents ample details about the protocols, technologies, algorithms and standards that are used by each layer as it relates to the internet. All of these chapters are quite long (between 70-120 pages) which may give readers the impression that the text drags on. It would be wise for readers to treat the major sub-headings in each chapter as single entities, rather than attempting to plow through each chapter in a single sitting.

The style of the writing would be best described as clear and accessible. The authors make use of analogy and repetition to drive home the content, particularly in the first three chapters. Students who are new to the subject and have not had much experience thinking about things such as protocols and algorithms will likely appreciate this approach.

Like any book, this book will be useful only to a subset of people who want to study computer networks. I think this book provides the best introduction for CS/SE students who have not had much exposure to network theory and are looking for a practical introduction to the subject. For CS/SE students who feel they want a more formal, terse, and dense introduction to the subject, they should try Tanenbaum's "Computer Networks" instead. Be aware that while Tanenbaum does provide more complete coverage he also assumes more "maturity" from the reader. Kurose can thus be thought of as a "gentle" verion of Tanenbaum's book. For EE/CE majors I would recommend Stallings or Tanenbaum over Kurose. Although Kurose does cover topics such as physical media and signaling, his treatment is cursory and assumes that the reader is not particularly interested in the fine theoretical details. Stallings, in contradistinction to Kurose, assumes the reader is not particularly interested in the transport and application layers and spends many pages covering the fine details of the physical theory. Stallings coverage is also much more broad than Kurose's, as he does not give particular preference to the internet, an approach that will probably just bore CS/SE students. Tanenbaum provides the most balanced and uniform coverage of the three books, and can be used successfully and fruitfully by anyone who has a solid background in computer science or computer engineering.

A word needs to be said about the problem sets at the end of each chapter. Some of the problems can be difficult to solve unless you have really mastered the material in the chapter. There are not tons of examples given within the text itself. Thus, it is fair to say that the authors implicitly assume a certain amount of mathematical maturity. You must be fairly comfortable thinking algebraically, and with calculating values and solving basic equations. CS and SE students should not have any problems here. There is very little advanced algebra, no trigonometry, and no calculus. While the lack of examples may frustrate some readers, compared to both Tanenbaum and Stallings, Kurose's problem sets are very straight-forward and elementary.

In conclusion, Kurose and Ross provide an excellent introduction to networking and the internet for CS/SE majors or anyone who is at least somewhat computer saavy. Highly recommended overall.

Excellent book, a lot of information. However knows about Networking it is not easy to understand and learn. This is a very good intro book. No a lot of coding but a lot of info how networks work. You can also download Power Point Presentations of each chapter, very well done. The authors put a lot of time on this book. Excersises are a little challenge, it didn't get five stars because this book has no answers of the questions (authors should put odd answers)