Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Fourth Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking) [Hardcover]

Larry L. Peterson (Author), Bruce S. Davie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 22, 2007 | ISBN-10: 0123705487 | ISBN-13: 978-0123705488 | Edition: 4

Computer Networks, 4E is the only introductory computer networking book written by authors who have had first-hand experience with many of the protocols discussed in the book, who have actually designed some of them as well, and who are still actively designing the computer networks today.

This newly revised edition continues to provide an enduring, practical understanding of networks and their building blocks through rich, example-based instruction. The authors' focus is on the why of network design, not just the specifications comprising today's systems but how key technologies and protocols actually work in the real world to solve specific problems. The new edition makes less use of computer code to explain protocols than earlier editions. Moreover, this new edition shifts the focus somewhat higher in the protocol stack where there is generally more innovative and exciting work going on at the application and session layers than at the link and physical layers.

* Completely updated with new sidebar discussions that cover the deployment status of protocols described in the book.
* Addition of sizeable number of new exercises and solutions.
* Downloadable Opnet network simulation software and lab experiments manual.
* New and revised instructor support material, including Powerpoint slides, eps version of figures appearing in the text; sample exams; lecture notes; UNIX sockets programming assignments.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Larry L. Peterson is the Robert E. Kahn Professor of Computer Science at Princeton University, as well as Vice President and Chief Scientist at Verivue, Inc. He serves as Director of the PlanetLab Consortium, which focuses on the design of scalable network services and next-generation network architectures. He is a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, recipient of the IEEE Kobayashi Computers and Communications Award, and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. Professor Peterson recently served as Editor-in-Chief of the ACM Transactions on Computer Systems, he has been on the Editorial Board for the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking and the IEEE Journal on Select Areas in Communication, and he has served as program chair for SOSP, NSDI, and HotNets. Peterson is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of the ACM and the IEEE, and the 2010 recipient of the IEEE Kobayahi Computer and Communication Award. He received his Ph.D. degree from Purdue University in 1985.

Bruce Davie has worked as a system architect at Cisco Systems since 1995, where he is a Cisco Fellow. For many years he led the team responsible for Multiprotocol Label Switching and IP Quality of Service. In 2007 he joined Cisco's Service Provider Video group. He has over 20 years of networking and communications industry experience and has written numerous books, RFCs, and articles on IP networking. In 2009 he became the chair of ACM SIGCOMM, and was recognized as an ACM Fellow. He is also an active participant in the Internet Engineering Task Force. Prior to joining Cisco he was director of internetworking research and chief scientist at Bell Communications Research. Bruce holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Edinburgh University and is a visiting lecturer at M.I.T.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 848 pages
• Publisher: Morgan Kaufmann; 4 edition (March 22, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0123705487
• ISBN-13: 978-0123705488
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #120,242 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Top 4 Computer Network Books Compared, May 24, 2009

By 

Michael Yasumoto - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Fourth Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking) (Hardcover)

This review compares the following four books:
Computer Networks by Peterson and Davie (P & D)
Computer Networks by Tanenbaum
Computer Networks by Comer / Internetworking with TCP/IP
Computer Networking by Kurose and Ross (K & R)

By far the best book in the list is "Computer Networking" by Kurose and Ross. This book covers all of the essential material that is in the other books but manages to do so in a relevant and entertaining way. This book is very up to date as seen by the release of the 5th Ed when the 4th Ed is barely two years old. There are lots of practical exercises using wireshark and the companion website is actually useful and relevant. The attitude of this book with regard to teaching networking concepts could be summed up as "try it out and see for yourself". One interesting thing to note is that the socket programming example are all in Java.

Next up is the Peterson and Davie book which covers everything that Kurose and Ross discuss but is slightly more mathematical in how it goes about things. There are a lot more numerical examples and defining of formulas in this book which is fine by me and in no way detracts from the book. Also the socket programming examples are in C which is a little more traditional. The points where this text loses ground to K & R is that it doesn't have the practical application exercises that K & R has and it also doesn't extend the basic networking theory that is covered to modern protocols like K & R.

The two Comer books come next. Comer's "Computer Networks" book is probably the most introductory book out of this whole list and is more of a survey of networking topics that doesn't cover anything in any real depth. Still, this is an excellent book in that it is a quick clear read that is very lucid in its explanations and you can't help feeling that you understand everything that is covered in the book. Comer's TCP/IP book is the equivalent of the other authors' computer network books and in that respect it is pretty average. It covers all of the relevant material and in a manner which is more than readable but that is all. There is nothing exceptional about the book which stands out from the rest.

Last comes Tanenbaum's book from the author who is probably most famous for his OS books. This is probably the most technical and detailed of the books with lots of sample C code belying is experience with operating systems and their network stack code. The weak point of this book is that all of the code and technical minutia might prevent the reader from seeing the forest for the trees. Unless you are trying to learn how to program your own network stack for a Unix/Linux system, then I would get either the K & R book or the P & D book to learn networking for the first time. This book would best be served as a reference in which case the technical nature of the book becomes a benefit rather than detracting from the text.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent work! Highly Recommended!, May 11, 2009

By 

Siddhardha (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Fourth Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking) (Hardcover)

This is an awesome work by the authors. I used this book for a graduate course in Networking and we covered about 90% of the text in class. The book presents the field of networking using a bottom up approach starting with physical layer all the way till application layer. The concepts are presented with such clarity that the reader will feel that he has a very good understanding of the topic after reading it. Lots of visuals are used in this book that aid in the learning process very well. Although I am done with this course, this book will stay in my shelf. Without a doubt, this is one of the best texts in Computer Science. I did not have any background in networking before reading this book and this book prepared me to tackle successfully some of the networking problems I faced recently at work. Well deserved kudos to the authors. I also had the fortune of a very good instructor for this course and it made it even more enjoyable. The other book my instructor has recommended is Computer Networking A Top Down Approach by Kurose and Ross - we covered only one chapter in this book for lack of time but it also presents concepts in crystal clarity. Either of these two books will make a great starting point for beginners to networking field. Two thumbs up!!!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For SW/HW Engineers NOT Systems Engineers, September 17, 2008

By 

D. Hong - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, Fourth Edition (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Networking) (Hardcover)

Davies et al wrote a very good book that is aimed at those that want to design and build products that work in a network. It's detailed and has great insight on how a network actually works (or should work). If you are looking for a book on how to implement a network, go buy a Cisco press book. However if you are looking for a book on how to build products to work in a network, this one fits just nicely.