Prerequisite:

COSC 4330 - Fundamentals of Operating Systems (Enforced)

Class Schedule:

4:00 - 5:30 PM, Monday and Wednesday in 110 AH.

People:

*  Additional office hours can be arranged by E-mail.

Primary Textbook:

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet, James F. Kurose and Keith W. Ross, Addison Wesley, 2001. ISBN: 0-201-47711-4 List price: $85 Errata from publisher (last update: January 11, 2001)

• You can find this text book in University of Houston Bookstore, or find a good price in on-line bookstores from bestbookbuys.com.
• There is a Preliminary Edition of this book (ISDN: 0201612747, List price: $35) available from some on-line bookstores. You can find a good price here.
  Please note that we are not responsible for any damage which may be caused by the difference between preliminary edition and regular edition. Use at your own risk.
• The regular edition comes with a 6-month access to companion web site, which includes entire text online, overhead slides, web links, interactive quizzes, etc. The preliminary edition and used book might not have access to the companion web site. You can purchase a 6-month subscription to companion web site for $25.00. The draw back is that there is no practice question nor problem which is included in the printed book.
• This course will basically cover chapter 1 to 5. If time permitted, we will add some material from chapter 6-8.

Recommended Text:

You don't have to buy this book in order to pass. Library has at least one copy for each of the following books.

Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, 2nd Edition by Larry L. Peterson and Bruce S. Davie Morgan Kaufmann, 1999. ISBN: 1558605142. 600 pages. List Price: 79.99. Errata: for the 1st through the 3rd printing

This is a well-written book on Computer Networks. Explanations of some concepts and protocols are better written than our textbook. We will use some content from this book as a supplement.

Supplemental texts:

You don't have to buy the following books in order to pass this class. Library has at least one copy for each of the following books.

	UNIX Network Programming by W. Richard Stevens Prentice Hall, 1990. ISBN: 0139498761. 772 pages. List Price: 79.00. (Out of Print) This book was published long time ago and is still a great reference book on UNIX network programming. Although this book is out of print, you can find still find used ones. Or you can get the next one (new version of this book).
	UNIX Network Programming: Networking APIs: Sockets and XTI, 2nd Edition by W. Richard Stevens Prentice Hall, 1998. ISBN: 013490012X. 1240 pages. List Price: 68.00. This book also has a Vol. II.
	TCP/IP Protocol Suite by Behrouz A. Forouzan McGraw Hill, 1999. ISBN: 025624166X. 864 pages List Price: 99.80. More in-depth discussion on TCP/IP. If you want to learn more detail about TCP/IP, this is the book you need.
	Computer Networks, 3rd Edition by Andrew S Tanenbaum Prentice Hall, 1996. ISBN: 0133499456. 848 pages. List Price: 89.00. A legendary textbook. Full of materials. Some parts might not be easy to read.

Class Web Page:

http://www.cs.uh.edu/~jsteach/cosc4377/

Discussion Newsgroups:

uh.nsm.cosc4377

Mailing List:

To be announced.

Grading:

The tentative plan for grading is as follows:

Midterm	25%
Final exam	35%
Written and programming assignments, and a term project	40%
Total:	100%

There will be one midterm and one final exam. No make-up exam is allowed unless there is a verifiable medical excuse.
The projected date for midterm is ??. The final exam is at 5-8 PM, on Friday, December 7th.
And there will be at least 2 programming and 2 written assignments, plus a term project which will weight 10~15% of your final grade.

Attendance:

If you miss a class, you are still responsible for knowing everything that took place. Your absence does not change the due date of an assignment.

Academic Honesty:

Any student found guilty of academic dishonesty will receive severe punishment.

Important Dates:

• First Day of Classes: August 22, Wednesday
• Labor Day holiday: September 3, Monday
• Last day to drop a course or withdraw without receiving a grade: September 19, Wednesday
• Last day to file university application for graduation: September 21, Friday
• Last day to drop a course or withdraw: November 6, Tuesday
• Thanksgiving holidays: November 21-24, Weds.-Sat.
• Last day of classes: December 3, Monday
• Final examination: December 7, Friday