Lecture hours: MW 4:30-5:45 PM at TBH 180G
TA: Hamidreza Almasi (halmas3@uic.edu)
Office hours: MW 1-2 PM at SEO 1310 (Balajee), TR 12-1 PM at SEO TR 2-3 PM (TA) at TBH 175.

About the course

This is an introductory course on computer networks. The course covers some of the key protocols in each layer of the protocol stack in a top-down fashion. This is a hands-on, programming-heavy course. The course is structured with a series of programming assignments, a mid-term exam, and a final exam. Please look at the complete syllabus.

Textbook

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach by Kurose and Ross (6th or 7th edition)

Exam schedule

Midterm exam: October XX (Monday)
Final exam: See the general schedule here

Course schedule (tentative)

Section numbers for the 6th edition, if different, are enclosed in parenthesis

Week Date Topic Readings (§)
1 8/26 Network layers 1.1, 1.5, 1.6, 2.1
1 8/28 End-to-end argument paper
2 9/4 The Web and HTTP 2.2
3 9/9 Email 2.3 (2.4)
3 9/11 DNS 2.4 (2.5)
4 9/16 Peer-to-peer systems, distributed hash tables 2.5 (2.6), paper
4 9/18 UDP 3.3
5 9/23 UDP, principles of reliable transport 3.3, 3.4
5 9/25 Reliable Transport 3.4
6 9/30 TCP 3.5
6 10/2 TCP Congestion Control 3.6, 3.7
7 10/7 Routing vs. Forwarding, Circuit vs. Packet Switching 4.1, (4.1, 4.2), 4.2 (4.3)
7 10/9 IP protocol 2.3 (4.4)
8 10/14 Midterm Exam  
8 10/16 Routing algorithms 5.2 (4.5)
9 10/21 Inter domain routing (BGP) 5.4 (4.6) paper
9 10/23 Software-defined networking 5.5 ()
10 10/28 Introduction to link layer 6.1, 6.2 (5.1, 5.2)
10 10/30 Multiple access links and protocols 6.3 (5.3)
11 11/4 Local Area Networks 6.4 (5.4)
11 11/6 Link Virtualization 6.5 (5.5)
12 11/11 Datacenter Networking 6.6 (5.6)
12 11/13 Introduction to wireless 7.1, 7.2 (6.1, 6.2)
13 11/18 WiFi: 802.11 Wireless LANs 7.3 (6.3)
13 11/20 WiFi: 802.11 Wireless LANs 7.3 (6.3)
14 11/25 Cellular networks 7.4 (6.4)
14 11/27 Mobility 7.5 - 7.7 (6.5 - 6.7)
15 12/2 Internet security  
15 12/4    

Stuff you should learn yourself