Below follows a day-by-day calendar for the class, including reading assignments, lecture topics, courseworks, and the midterm exam. Lecture notes will be posted immediately after each lecture.
The lecture on a given day assumes that students will have completed any reading assignment marked Pre-Reading (shown in the same day on the calendar) before lecture. Note that the reading assignments in P & D are from the fifth edition (5/e) of the text unless otherwise mentioned.
N.B. that all assigned readings are examinable.
| Tuesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|
|
30th Sep Introduction to Networking and Network Architecture Pre-Reading: P & D, Chapter 1 up to and including Section 1.3 Lecture Notes: pdf |
2nd Oct Controlling Errors Pre-Reading: P & D, Section 2.4 Lecture Notes: pdf |
3rd Oct |
|
7th Oct No lecture today! |
9th Oct No lecture today! |
10th Oct |
|
14th Oct Medium Access Control: ALOHA and Ethernet Pre-Reading: P & D, Section 2.6 Pre-Reading: Ethernet: Distributed Packet Switching for Local Computer Networks Lecture Notes: pdf |
16th Oct Primitives for Achieving Reliability Pre-Reading: P & D, Section 2.5 Lecture Notes: pdf Coursework 1 out (pdf); due 4:05 PM 23rd October Optional Python programming exercise: TubeLab |
17th Oct (1-19 Torrington, 115 Galton LT) Primitives for Achieving Reliability (cont'd) |
|
21st Oct The Domain Name System Pre-Reading: P & D, Section 9.3.1 (5/e), Section 9.1.3 (4/e) Pre-Reading: S & K, DNS case study (pdf, UCL only) Lecture Notes: pdf Coursework 2 out (pdf; due 4:05 PM 11th November Coursework 2 Introduction slides: pdf |
23rd Oct Multi-hop Networks and End-to-End Arguments Pre-Reading: S & K, Chapter 7, Section 7.1 Pre-Reading: End-to-End Arguments in System Design Lecture Notes: pdf Coursework 1 due |
24th Oct |
|
28th Oct No lecture today! |
30th Oct Introduction to Internetworking Pre-Reading: P & D, §3.2 (5/e); §§4.1, 4.3 only through and including 4.3.2 (4/e) Lecture Notes: pdf |
31st Oct |
|
4th Nov Reading week; no lecture today! |
6th Nov Reading week; no lecture today! |
7th Nov |
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11th Nov Reliable Transport and TCP Introduction Pre-Reading: P & D, Chapter 5, Section 5.2 Optional Reading: S & K, Chapter 7, Section 7.5 Lecture Notes: pdf Coursework 2 due |
13th Nov TCP and Congestion Control Pre-Reading: P & D, Chapter 6, Section 6.3 Pre-Reading: Congestion Avoidance and Control Optional Reading: S & K, Chapter 7, Section 7.6 Lecture Notes: pdf Coursework 3 out: TCP problem set; due 4:05 PM 21st November |
14th Nov (1-19 Torrington, 115 Galton LT) Wireless Networks: 802.11 MAC Pre-Reading: P & D, Chapter 2, Section 2.7, only through and including 2.7.1 Lecture Notes: pdf |
|
18th Nov Forwarding and Addressing in the Link Layer Pre-Reading: P & D, §3.1 (5/e); §§3.1, 3.2 (4/e) Pre-Reading: Excerpt from Perlman: Interconnections (pdf, UCL only) Lecture Notes: pdf |
20th Nov Midterm exam (1.5 hours) |
21st Nov (1-19 Torrington, 115 Galton LT) Forwarding and Addressing in the Link Layer (cont'd) |
|
25th Nov Intra-Domain Routing: Introduction and Distance-Vector Pre-Reading: P & D, Chapter 3, Section 3.3, only through end of 3.3.2 Lecture Notes: pdf Coursework 4 out: DV Routing; (pdf) due 4:05 PM 9th December Coursework 4 Introduction slides: pdf |
27th Nov No lecture today! |
28th Nov |
|
2nd Dec Intra-Domain Routing: Link-State Pre-Reading: P & D, Chapter 3, Section 3.3.3 Lecture Notes: pdf |
4th Dec Inter-Domain Routing: BGP Pre-Reading: P & D, Chapter 4, Section 4.1.2 Pre-Reading: Balakrishnan, Lecture 4 Notes Optional Reading: S & K, Chapter 7, Section 7.4 Lecture Notes: BGP I (pdf), BGP II (pdf) |
5th Dec |
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9th Dec Content Delivery on the Web: HTTP and CDNs Pre-Reading: P & D, Section 9.4.3 Lecture Notes: pdf Coursework 4 due |
11th Dec Security: Firewalls, Worms, and Censorship Pre-Reading: P & D, Chapter 8, Section 8.5 Lecture Notes: Worms and Firewalls (pdf), Censorship (pdf) |
12th Dec |