About the Course

This is the spring semester of the networking sequence MSCS209-MSCS210. These courses can be taken individually or both, in either order. The first semester concentrates on what needs to be done to set up transport across a network, and is called "Network Infrastructure". Informally this is the "lower layers" and involves TCP,UDP+RTP/RTCP at the upper "transport" level, IP at the "network level", Ethernet and other protocols at the "link level", and a variety of tranmssion technologies at the "physical level".

Learning in Layers

The fact that the courses can be taken in either order, or either one without the other, depends upon a principle I called "Learning in Layers" or LiL, together with the fact that current networks are structured very much in layers. This principle notes that when studying a particular layer we must be concerned only with what happens in that layer, along with its interfaces to layers above and below it, and not with any other layer. This is a very strong statement, and means in part that knowledge of the inner structure of other layers can be dangerous to have. Of course it might help in understanding why a particular layer is implemented as it is, but we cannot rely upon the details of that implementation since it is allowable and very likely that its details will change without notice.

In other words while you are studying how a transport layer such as TCP actuallysends and receives its packets, the Ethernet underneath might be changed from one speed to another, or perhaps the Ethernet is replaced with some kind of wireless or telephone based network. That should not affect the transport, other than perhaps to make it faster (or slower:-).

What we will study

What we will do

What we will do

TA for the course

A teaching assistant Mehrab Monjour (mehrab.monjour AT mscs.mu.edu) has been assigned to help me and therefore you with the course. As is usual with my courses he has not taken the course, and is actually enrolled in it, so may be as confused or even more confused than you. However I will try to explain to him what we are doing in advance.