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

Certainly the best INTRODUCTORY book on computer networks. And ONE of the two best books on computer networks (the other being Computer Networks by Andrew S. Tanenbaum, however the two are written in a very different style.)

Brilliant work! The book describes computer networks in an very very interesting manner, with practical real world scenarios and examples, explaining how things works in real world with examples of internet, together with very interesting notes on great events in the computer networks field. The fundamental networking concepts are described and explained in a great way. The figures are outstanding helping in understanding the thoery even more. As the title suggests the chapters discuss network stack layers top to down, i.e., the first chapter dicusses the Application layer, and so on.

However regarding the contents, I think Andrew S. Tanenbaum's book covers more which is also due to the fact that this book is written with Internet as an example, therefore it mostly covers the major topics in the computer networks.

The topics are explained in very much detail. However for this reason, this book may not be ideal for someone who wants a quick revision of the network concepts.

In a way, a negative point of the book is that sometimes it is overloaded with too much unnecessary information.

Very highly recommended! Dont think, go for it, especially it if it is your first book on computer networks.

This is a great book if you are starting out in the computer networking field. It is also a good compliment to "Computer Networks" by Andrew Tanenbaum. This is not a book for someone well versed with the basic concepts as it lacks the depth and details.

This book looks at the networking concepts from the software engineer/ computer science perspective rather than computer engineer/ electrical engineer one.

It explains many of the concepts with very simple everyday analogies and the simple language makes it very readable. The book does miss out on many emerging technologies, like sensor networks, mesh networks, etc.

Also the lower OSI layers like physical, MAC lack the details and information worthy of a basic book. The application, transport and network layers are covered well since this a primarily a software engineer's look at networking.

Overall, its a good book for beginers(specially for computer science) but not for intermediate or experts in the field .

I bought this book for my son in college...if anything...thank you for the great service and fast shipment..it made it prior to the start of his class..

I like the book very much. It is very up-to-date on emerging technologies and very explanatory. However, I was expecting to see solutions to exercises. A great book indeed.

[A review of the 3rd Edition.]

Kudos to the authors for eschewing the traditional 7 layer description of the Internet. Too complex. Instead, they give a clear and pragmatic understanding of 5 layers. Physical, data link, network, transport and application. A very logical subdivision. From this flows the User Datagram Protocol and TCP/IP.

At the network layer, there is a good airing of common routing algorithms, used by Cisco and others. Including broadcast and multicast routing. These are very efficient methods of using the available bandwidth; especially for applications like video being viewed by many people.

Wireless and mobile networks also get a mention. Important since in the developing world, more people are likely to have a cellphone than a computer. There are different issues here, compared to fixed landline networks. Like mobility management.

The only possible drawback about the text is the brief discussion on IPv6, the next generation Internet. If you need a comprehensive discussion, seek a different book.