CS 453: Data and Computer Communications

West Virginia University
Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering

Class Information

Prerequisites: CS 350

Time and Location: T R, 8-9:15am, 107 MRB-E

Material

Computer networking is a field that has huge impact on almost all aspects of software development. This course examines both the theory and practice of modern computer networks and the Internet. Emphasis will be on the software aspects of networking (protocols, applications, and services). Topics covered will be the architecture of the Internet, the software systems that run it, and the theory and practice of current protocols such as TCP/UDP/IP, ICMP, HTTP, NNTP, etc. Time permitting, other, more advanced, issues will be discussed, such as high performance architectures, security/authentication, distributed objects (CORBA, DCOM, etc.), or others suggested by the students.

Grading

All graded material must be done individually and in accordance with the University regulations on academic dishonesty and student code of conduct. Grades will be based on 3 multi-part programming assignments (50%), a midterm (25%), a final (25%). There will be no makeup examinations. If you provide a valid, written medical excuse, your grade will be averaged based on your other material. Programming assignments can be done in a choice of languages (C, C++, Java, etc.), but some restrictions may apply to certain assignments. All assignments will be submitted electronically to the instructor unless otherwise stated in class or by email. Late assignment will not be accepted. Extra credit may be available in several forms. Grades will be awarded based on the following scale: 90-100 (A), 80-89 (B), 70-79 (C), 60-69 (D), less than 60 (F). You are responsible for all material presented in class and presented on the course web pages and on the class mailing list if used.

Supplemental Texts

The class does not have any specific text. Instead, the topics will be taken from a number of sources. For those interested, most of the material will come from the following references.

D.E. Comer, Internetworking with TCP/IP, Volume 1, Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1991 (2nd edition), ISBN 0-13-468505-9
W.R. Stevens, TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1994, ISBN 0-201-63346-9
R. Perlman, Interconnections: Bridges and Routers, Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 1992, ISBN 0-201-56332-0
W. Stallings, Data and Computer Communications, Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River, NJ, 1997 (5th. edition), ISBN 0-02-415425-3
B.A. Forouzan, TCP/IP Protocol Suite, McGraw Hill, 2003 (2nd Edition), ISBN 0-07-246060-1
C.M. Kozierok, The TCP/IP Guide, No Starch Press, ISBN 1-59327-047-X

Programming Assignments

What follows is a partial list of the programming assignments in the class. These will be added as they are assigned. Assignment submissions must follow the submission guidelines.