Rating: 
Summary: excellent, easy to understand..and answers questions.
Review: I was browsing this book at a bookstore looking the answer to a question that was bothering me for while... how long is token being held by each node in a token ring network? This book was the first book that I found addressing this question (btw answer = 10ms). From what I gather, this is an awesome book. Its written so that concepts are explained clearly and what made me buy this book was that it answers those questions that naturally arise when you are learning new concepts.
Rating: 
Summary: Too light and confusing
Review: I'm really disappointed in this book. It doesn't seem to go into that much depth in the third of the book I've read. I learned far more from Steven's "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1" simply because although he may not cover everything he covers what he does well. From that foundation you can learn other things. Computer Networks doesn't seem to go into much detail and when it does it looks out of place. It's odd to speak in generalities and then dive into some C code snippet. I really thought it confusing to present the OSI architecture at a high level (and useless abstraction it is) and then contrast it with the "Internet Architecture" at a different level of abstraction. Things are not presented like this in either Steven's book or Forouzan's "Data Communications and Networking". They are understandable. I'm not sure if the author tried to simplify things too much but I kept finding myself leaning on past knowledge to figure out what the author really meant and sometimes it seemed a stretch between what was presented in "Computer Networks" and what was presented in other references.
Rating:
Summary: Too light and confusing
Review: I'm really disappointed in this book. It doesn't seem to go into that much depth in the third of the book I've read. I learned far more from Steven's "TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1" simply because although he may not cover everything he covers what he does well. From that foundation you can learn other things. Computer Networks doesn't seem to go into much detail and when it does it looks out of place. It's odd to speak in generalities and then dive into some C code snippet. I really thought it confusing to present the OSI architecture at a high level (and useless abstraction it is) and then contrast it with the "Internet Architecture" at a different level of abstraction. Things are not presented like this in either Steven's book or Forouzan's "Data Communications and Networking". They are understandable. I'm not sure if the author tried to simplify things too much but I kept finding myself leaning on past knowledge to figure out what the author really meant and sometimes it seemed a stretch between what was presented in "Computer Networks" and what was presented in other references.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: I've been dealing with computer networks in theory and practice for quite some time. This book is excellent reference and give in depth details and knowledge. The structure is well designed and the materials are following each other. If you are looking for a startup book though, this might not be the right choice.
Rating:
Summary: Explains How it All Fits
Review: Starting with very basic assumptions, this book carefully explains the challenges that naturally arise when you try to connect all the computers in the world together. It explains the solutions, of course, but never without giving a good description of the problems they are solving, which I find essential to understanding. You end up knowing the why of everything and how it all fits. Too many books start out in the middle, leaving me wondering why. The writing is about as clear as possible. A great book if you want to understand networking. If instead, you just want to configure a system or implement some code, this is not the book.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent book to learn principles of computer networks
Review: The "Computer Networks: A Systems Approach" is an excellent book for learning the base principles of computer networks. Authors managed to show not only how networks work but why networks were design as they were. Really liked clear and concise writing style, code examples and exercises. I can recommend this book as an introduction to computer networks or fun to read overview.
Rating:
Summary: A must for anyone starting with networks
Review: There's little question that networks are more important now than they ever have been. This book is perfect for anyone who wants a broad understanding of computer networks, both of their history and evolution, and important issues today. If you're looking for a text covering network programming, look elsewhere, since most of the code samples are only there for illustrative purposes, and are thus brief or incomplete. Instead, what you'll find here is extensive coverage of issues involved with network design, such as network protocols, security issues, congestion control, routing algorithms, link-level technologies, and more. Although the reading can be slow at times, given the somewhat theoretical nature of the subject, overall the authors have done a great job of keeping the discussion interesting and relevant. Of special note were the end-of-chapter discussions of unresolved issues facing today's network architects and designers. All in all, if you want to gain an understanding of computer networks, this book will provide a great foundation to build upon.
Rating:
Summary: Must read for beginners
Review: This book is amazing. It provides you both with theoritical tools needed to study and understand the field of Computer Networks as well as the code to look into the implementation issues.
Rating: 
Summary: Professors, please don't teach from this book!
Review: This book is definitely not for computer scientists. This is more like computers for non-engineers. The book's examples are lacking in quantity and depth. Let's start from the beginning. This book is not for a network programming course, so why waste valuable pages with code. Explanation of spanning trees needs more comprehensive and in depth examples. IPv6 needs to be expanded. Illustration of tcp handshakes and other network traffic need to show packet traces. The TCP state diagram is not clear as to who does what (see TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 1 for a good state diagram). The flow control section could be a little more illustrated. The variable annotations for adaptive retransmission confused 95% of the class. Much of TCP Congestion Control was simply not explained well. But if there were more specific examples, to include packet captures instead of tiny tic marks on a graph, maybe the student could deduce what is happening on the network. The text also has a section on network security which should be entitled encryption + some other stuff. It would also be nice if they explained how 7 x 43 = 301 = 1 mod 60. For those who are not Euclid's algorithm, taking the explanation in the previous sentence one step further would greatly help the masses. I could go on about this book, but the bottom line is don't by it unless you have to and then if you can resell it to the campus bookstore, sell it. It won't be a long term reference in any way.
Rating:
Summary: Professors, please don't teach from this book!
Review: This book is definitely not for computer scientists. This is more like computers for non-engineers. The book's examples are lacking in quantity and depth. Let's start from the beginning. This book is not for a network programming course, so why waste valuable pages with code. Explanation of spanning trees needs more comprehensive and in depth examples. IPv6 needs to be expanded. Illustration of tcp handshakes and other network traffic need to show packet traces. The TCP state diagram is not clear as to who does what (see TCP/IP Illustrated Volume 1 for a good state diagram). The flow control section could be a little more illustrated. The variable annotations for adaptive retransmission confused 95% of the class. Much of TCP Congestion Control was simply not explained well. But if there were more specific examples, to include packet captures instead of tiny tic marks on a graph, maybe the student could deduce what is happening on the network. The text also has a section on network security which should be entitled encryption + some other stuff. It would also be nice if they explained how 7 x 43 = 301 = 1 mod 60. For those who are not Euclid's algorithm, taking the explanation in the previous sentence one step further would greatly help the masses. I could go on about this book, but the bottom line is don't by it unless you have to and then if you can resell it to the campus bookstore, sell it. It won't be a long term reference in any way.
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