Prerequisite:

COSC 4330 - Fundamentals of Operating Systems

Class Schedule:

2:30 - 4:00 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 (ISBN: 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:

We will use WebCT (http://www.uh.edu/webct/ ) for our class web page. All announcements, notes, assignments, old exams, and other course related materials will be on WebCT only.  Please get a WebCT account as soon as possible.

WebCT

Students have three options to get their WebCT ID:

1. Online at http://www.uh.edu/webct - under Student Log On, click "Check here" to get your WebCT ID.
2. In person in Room 56 in the basement of the MD Anderson Library on the main campus, Monday-Friday, 8 am to 8 pm.
3. By phone at 713-743-1411 Monday-Friday, 8 am to 8 pm.

A student's initial password is his/her birth date in the format mmddyyyy (example: April 1, 1974 would be entered as 04011974). WebCT IDs and passwords are case sensitive. Students should change their password the first time they log on to WebCT.

Once a student has his/her WebCT ID, he/she will log on to WebCT courses by going to http://www.uh.edu/webct and clicking "Student Log On".

Support for students using WebCT will be available in four ways:

1. Online at http://www.uh.edu/webct - click on " Student Help".
2. In person in Room 56 in the basement of the MD Anderson Library on the main campus, Monday-Friday, 8 am to 8 pm.
3. By phone at 713-743-1411 Monday-Friday, 8 am to 8 pm.
4. By sending email to support@uh.edu with the student's full name, course name and number, instructor's name and a description of the problem.

Students who register after Jan. 7 should allow three working days for their WebCT ID to be created and available online.

Grading:

The tentative plan for grading is as follows:

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

There will be one midterm and one final exam, plus quizzes. No make-up exam is allowed unless there is a verifiable medical excuse.  The date for midterm will be announced about two weeks before the midterm. The final exam is at 2-5 PM, on Monday, May 6th.  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: January 14, Monday
• Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday: January 21, Monday
• Last day to drop a course or withdraw without receiving a grade: February 11, Monday
• Last day to file university application for graduation: February 15, Friday
• Spring Holiday: March 4 - 9, Monday - Saturday
  
• Last day to drop a course or withdraw: April 2, Tuesday
• Last day of classes: April 29, Monday
• Final examination: May 6, Monday