Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach

Most books in computer networks start bottom-up. This is good for those who might be beginners or those who are just looking to get a high level understanding of the field since it starts with the bigger picture and gets to the complicated lower level stuff later. Computer networks might feel dry to some, so starting with the upper level layers to the lower level ones later can more easily grab readers' attention. As a result they're more likely to stay for the entire ride and see how great computer networks are. It provides interesting end of chapter interviews! It also mentions the history and its influence on computer networks, which one might not take away from a computer networks class even though it is the basis of the internet that we know today. Great book!

I usually don't read my textbooks (and sometimes don't buy them at all), preferring simply to listen closely to my professors' lectures, but I actually enjoyed reading this one. I thought the authors explained everything clearly and went into a lot of detail without being overwhelmingly dry or technical. They do not hesitate to explore the gritty details of networking protocols, encryption algorithms, and the like, but they do so in a way that I found, as I worked slowly through the material, engaging and enjoyable. I also appreciated that they throw in little bits of humor from time to time. I liked the book so much that after my class was over, I went on to read half of a chapter that my class had not covered. In short, this book is a great treatment of a complicated subject matter.

I bought this book for my computer networking class which was run by one of the contributors of this book (George Polyzos). I've read all of chapters 1-6 and some parts of 7, and so far everything seems great. The algorithms are explained in detail, complete with visual material and online supplementary animations which can be accessed via the code in the book. The protocols are clearly explained with a visual representation of the formatting of each packet/segment/frame based the protocol. For me, it was a tiny bit tedious to read some parts and a bit frustrating trying to understand the more complex algorithms, but this was after having read 20+ pages straight beforehand. I never did any of the homework problems as we were given problem sets (possibly from one of the older editions). Overall though I'd give this book 4 stars for doing a great job of teaching general computer networking.

I would not agree with another reviewer that this is v7 is simply a reprint of v6 and being sold for higher price. The v6 was published in 2013, and v7 is in 2017. In my perspective the v7 reflected many up-to-date changes that happened during the 3 years. For example, in chapter 2 application, online video streaming is added, and how do Netflix and youtube work are discussed. Chapter 4 network layer are now divided into 2 chapters: the control plane and the data plane, to accommodate the software defined network concept. In some sense, you will for sure still see many many same pictures and sentences in the v7 as in v6, however, as a new edition, you do not expect it to be a completely new book. There are at least some substantial content update and structure changes in this newer version.

Not painful to read like many other technical books I’ve been forced to read. Actually quite good and reader friendly. My only problem is that each chapter is usually something like 60-100 pages. You got to have an attention span of steel to get through a chapter in one sitting.

I bought the hardback book of the 7th edition but the quality is pretty bad in my opinion for a hardback. It feels like it won't last long. I ended up reading the PDF version on my computer of the 6th edition instead. The content in the book is good.

This book deserves ZERO stars. I find this book is like far too many textbooks today seem to be. It gives very basic examples in the text, and gives incredibly hard problems that leave the student frustrated. The Wireshark labs aren't any better. The index of the book is incomplete, which makes trying to find concepts very difficult. While this book does touch on some excellent concepts, the way is set up is terrible.

This has been one of my favorite books so far. I have order a lot of computer related books before this book is by far one of my favorite. The book is written is such a good way, so easy to understand and the provided examples make it even easier to comprehend this subject .

The Kindle edition is just scans of pages (and not very good scans at that). Reading on Kindle Paperwhite, diagrams are split across two screens, the pages themselves are oriented wrong so I would have to hold the Kindle landscape to read, pages are squint. Lesson learned - download the sample first before buying. I will give a proper review of the contents once I've got the physical book and read it, but the Kindle edition is awful, and I wanted to save anyone the trouble of buying it without noticing before they refund.

I have access to this book and the previous edition and the differences between them are almost entirely superficial. It's almost entirely things like updating statistics, moving content around a bit etc.The previous edition is actually about 50 pages longer as well. So if you have to choose I would say go with the cheapest one you can get. That aside, the book is really well written and does a great job of explaining concepts. Very glad that I bought this textbook.

This is an excellent book for undergraduate seniors and first year graduate course on computer networks. Except for physical layer, all TCP/IP layers are discussed in orderly manner with principles and examples. Must have for networking specialists. Publisher, Pearson High Education, provides enough resources for both instructors and students to augment their studies.