Unique no. 51845 Time: Tu Th 12:30 - 2 p.m. Classroom: Taylor 2.106
Instructor: Simon S. Lam, office hours: Tu Th 2-3 p.m., office: Taylor 3.112
Teaching assistants:
This course is an introduction to the subject of computer networks with emphasis on the Internet. Lectures will cover the following topics:
We will emphasize fundamental concepts and key ideas, and try to minimize coverage of implementation details. However, some details are unavoidable in a course on protocols and networking. Also, to explain why certain ideas and design decisions are better than others, there will be some amount of mathematical analysis (in lectures, homeworks, and exams).
James F. Kurose and Keith W. Ross, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet, 2nd edition, Addison Wesley, 2003.
Reading assignments of selected chapters and sections in the text will be posted on the class web page. Lecture slides are also available on the class web page (as .pdf files). I plan to cover the first five chapters of the textbook plus selected topics from Chapters 7 and 8. Read Chapter 1 of the textbook as soon as possible.
A course packet (optional) containing a copy of my lecture slides is available from I. T. Copy located at 214 West M.L.K. Blvd (MLK at Lavaca, next to Radio Shack). Their phone number is 476-6662. I have been told that the total price is $13.50 including sales tax (calculated from 4 cents a page plus binding charge plus $1.03 sales tax; let me know if they charge more).
3 exams (27%, 27%, 27%), homework assignments and lab exercises (19%)
Exams will be during regular class periods. Exam dates to be posted on class web page. (There will be no final exam.)
You will be allowed to make up a missed exam only with prior approval from me. To get approval, you need a compelling reason.
Homeworks will be due at the beginning of class on due date. Late homeworks will not be accepted. (Actually, I will give you a 15-minute grace period in case you arrive late to class. If you arrive within the first 15 minutes of class, please locate one of the TAs and give your homework to him quietly.)
One or more lab exercises in the Network Instruction Lab (NIL) are being planned. Assignment details and sign-up procedure to be posted on class web page.
Your letter grade for the course: Students with course averages in the top 20% will get a letter grade of A. Students with course averages in the next 30% will get a letter grade of B. Students with course averages below the 50 percentile point will get a letter grade of C or lower.
The cutoffs between letter grades will be determined prior to the award of extra credit for the following programming assignments.
There are two "socket programming" assignments for those who are motivated to learn from hands on experience on their own with some help from the TAs. These programming assignments are optional. You can talk to fellow students about general concepts, data structures, language constructs, and such. But you should write these programs individually. Successful completion of the optional assignments will earn you a maximum extra credit of 9% points to be added to your course average.
Note: I will determine the cutoffs between letter grades prior to the award of such extra credit. Therefore the letter grades of students who choose not to do the optional assignments will not be affected by the number of students who successfully complete these assignments.
Note also that the extra credit will make a difference in your final letter grade only if your course average is "within striking distance" of cutoffs between letter grades. Therefore, it is possible that you will not improve your letter grade even if you complete all of the optional assignments; in this case, what you learn from doing them is your only reward.
Reading assignments, lecture slides, homework and programming assignments, as well as special announcements are posted on the class web page with the URL: http://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/lam/cs356 . I do not have a fixed schedule for posting updates, but it is a good idea to check on Mondays and Wednesdays.
There will be links to the web pages of TAs, with information
on their office hours,
homework solutions, instructions and skeleton code
for programming assignments, etc.
If you have questions about homeworks, exams, and programming,
please post to class newsgroup, send email to one of the TAs, or visit
during their office hours.
They will share duties in grading homework and programming assignments
as well as the three exams. Also, they will monitor the class
newsgroup:
utexas.class.cs356-lam and answer student questions posted
there.