computer science: what is Networks and Communication?

[Deleted]

sup fellow champs,

I have an exam coming up in computer science, but I've missed some classes. one part of the exam will be about "Networks and Communication". if anyone could give me a quick rundown on what the basics of "Networks and Communication" are, I would be very grateful!

cheers!

(I tried googeling to no avail)

[Tikaru]

You don't have a textbook for this class?

[the game]

I mean if you don't know what networking is you probably won't do well in your exam.

[Odobisean]

Just research the layers of OSI and you should be fine if it is an introductory CS course.

[Orlong]

Maybe you shouldnt party every night and get up at noon with a hangover so you can actually go to your classes and learn

[Kuntantee]

We can't help you without understanding the level of sophistication involved in the course. Does it involve collision-detection algorithms, protocol details, maskings so on and so forth? Or your usual Computer Networks course explaining concepts like LAN, WAN etc.? For the latter, wikipedia will do just fine.

[Dezerte]

When two computers love each other very much that is called a Network.

[Ryme]

I don't think we could help any more than google did, need more specifics than asking what the terms mean

[Xeones]

Just research the layers of OSI and you should be fine if it is an introductory CS course.

Gonna go with this, since your question doesn't make a whole lot of sense. In fact I wonder if you even know anything about computers if you don't know what a network is or even a little about how it communicates.

The OSI layers give you a understanding of the protocols involved in networks from personal networks to the internet.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSI_model

[tratra]

When two computers love each other very much that is called a Network.

Thanks for that!

[tankbug]

If you have to ask here, when the exams are already close, you're not gonna pass. I don't think your teacher will be satisfied with a quick rundown.
Please don't be insulted, friend, but how is it possible for someone who studies computer science to be so ignorant on the concept of network and communication that you don't even know where to start, like if you asked a truck driver or something? You must have books or material that covers this subject, right?

[Aggrophobic]

I hope you're just trolling but if you're not... I think you can save yourself some time but just skipping that exam.

That or sit down and work your ass off. I mean, there must be some course literature, you have teachers you could ask, right?

[Xeones]

I hope you're just trolling but if you're not... I think you can save yourself some time but just skipping that exam.

That or sit down and work your ass off. I mean, there must be some course literature, you have teachers you could ask, right?

Lets be honest here, I don't know how schools run outside of the US but if he is in the US he can't be past two weeks of the current semester. He's admitting to basically having not shown up to any class so far by the content of his question and the timing of it as well.

Probably easier to ask us than explain his absences to the person he pays to tell him the things he is (poorly) asking us.

[Ravenblade]

It's a pretty complex topic, don't expect one-liners answering your question here. Long story short: You are pretty much screwed if you don't even know networking basics right now. If I had to take a guess and remembering what I learned in that area back then it's about stuff like types and classes of networks with some exercises like calculating IP ranges, subnet masks etc., then probably something about types of wiring (copper, glass fibre with physical basics included), some series of tests about security (god I hated them, the security bible we had to learn dwarfs the actual Bible by a couple of times), network protocols functional and structural details included and some physical knowledge (some lowlevel electronics and electricity stuff, nothing too difficulty) and some theory like signal theory and OSI + TCP/IP model. We also had to do some tests about designing entire networks with weird stuff like VLANs and also design complete cable layout for a large office building complex with sensitive research areas attached! Good luck!

[Deleted]

Very poor troll.

[Deleted]

oh...sorry for the lousy question. I'm a newbie but I still have time to study for this exam. the problem is that I don't know what to study regarding this specific topic: "Networks and Communication."
all I know is that the questions will be about the very basics of "Networks and Communication".

as Odobisean suggested I will definitely study the layers of OSI for the basics of "Networks".

but what about "Communication"? do you guys think they mean "Networks and Communication" as in how a Network communicates internally or is "Communication" another separate subject in computer science?

cheers for all the input so far. this forum rocks.

[Eviscero]

Does your instructor frequent MMOC? Do your classmates? Go ask your instructor or your fellow students.

[Danner]

sup fellow champs,

I have an exam coming up in computer science, but I've missed some classes. one part of the exam will be about "Networks and Communication". if anyone could give me a quick rundown on what the basics of "Networks and Communication" are, I would be very grateful!

cheers!

(I tried googeling to no avail)

"You only need 4 days of preparation to pass any course" - Danner, 7th year university student (2005)

--

Sorry to say it, but if this is your current level, you are going to fail.
No two ways around this. You don't know what the course is about.
If you need to pass this course, your only hope is to study old exams rigorously and hope that the professor is lazy bastard rotating assignments between years.
And even that won't help you unless you have a rudimentary idea on what the course is about.


Network and Communications is a wide topic dealing with all the technical details, theories, math and history involved in getting computers to talk together. It's a huge topic, with text books covering 500+ pages. It's not so simple a topic to condense into a forum post. if it was, it wouldn't be a class.

When I had a CS class at my university 15 years ago on this topic, the textbook was Andrew Tanenbaum's awesome texbook called "Computer Networks". You might be able to find a PDF on that by googling. Professor Tanenbaum is a great and fun-to-read writer, so this book is both educational and covers what I assume is your curriculum. If you're a quick reader and has good memory, you might be able to get through the book in time. Nonetheless, unless you know what kind of assignments you are going to get - you are going to fail. Sorry.

Complicating matters, I also had an electronics class, a different course, with the same subject name. That class dealt almost exclusively in signal transmissions and fourier transforms. If that is the subject of your class, then Tanenbaum isn't going to help you. And I don't think anything can.

[Deleted]

It's a pretty complex topic, don't expect one-liners answering your question here. Long story short: You are pretty much screwed if you don't even know networking basics right now. If I had to take a guess and remembering what I learned in that area back then it's about stuff like types and classes of networks with some exercises like calculating IP ranges, subnet masks etc., then probably something about types of wiring (copper, glass fibre with physical basics included), some series of tests about security (god I hated them, the security bible we had to learn dwarfs the actual Bible by a couple of times), network protocols functional and structural details included and some physical knowledge (some lowlevel electronics and electricity stuff, nothing too difficulty) and some theory like signal theory and OSI + TCP/IP model. We also had to do some tests about designing entire networks with weird stuff like VLANs and also design complete cable layout for a large office building complex with sensitive research areas attached! Good luck!

oh man, you are awesome! this gives me a lot of clues of what I should look up! thank you!

one last question: the whole topic is called "Networks and Communication" do you think that "Communication" stands for the communication within a network; something you come across when studying "Networks". or is it a whole nother topic like human <-> machine interaction/"Communication"?

[Bollocks]

Don't you have the book? If so, ask your friends what topics comes and if someone could help while studying.