Getting Started with Computer Networks

  What does 'Computer Network' mean?   Computer Network is a collection of devices (nodes) connected by a communication link. These devices that form a network (nodes) are capable of sending or/and receiving data. They aid in Data Communication. What are the criteria that must be considered to judge the effectiveness of a network? 1. Performance  - quality of service. can me measured by calculating the time it takes between sending a data request and recieving the data ( transit time and response time ) over a network. Metrics considered here : throughput, delay. 2. Reliability - the fault tolerance of the network.  measured by the frequency of  failure, the time it takes a link to recover from a failure, and the network's (recovers) robustness in a catastrophe (in case of an error or fault) 3. Security - includes protecting data beings transmitted from unauthorized access, protecting data alterted or deleted, and implementing policies and procedures for recovery from breac

What does 'Computer Network' mean?   Computer Network is a collection of devices (nodes) connected by a communication link. These devices that form a network (nodes) are capable of sending or/and receiving data. They aid in Data Communication. What is Data Communication?  Data communications are the exchange of data between two devices via some form of transmission medium such as a wire cable/radio signals. Here data refers to information in whatever form present. For example : while sending text messages, text is the data; while sending images, images are the data. Various types of Data representation Text Numbers Iamges Audio  Video //pretty self explainatory. For more info regarding their respective properties (refer textbook pg5) What are the criteria that must be considered to judge the effectiveness of data communication?  1. Delivery  - the data send must be recieved by the designated reciever(s). 2. Accuracy - the data recieved must be the same as the data sent. 3. Time

Hey, this is Harshitha Devineni. And I'm currently pursuing my integrated mtech degree in software engineering. I have a computer networks course this semester and I raided the internet for materials. I sure did find a few helpful materials. But either the content was too difficult to get started with or too simple and inadequate.  And there were too many reserouces to search and learn each part from that I often gave up 'cause I was confused. So here is a clear, easy yet effective roadmap (this worked for me) that  I would like to share. All about Computer Networks. This blog mostly concentrates on the theory aspect, and understanding them better. Simple Terms!! Reference Book used  Data Communications and Networking Book by Behrouz A. Forouzan