This page last updated: 00:03 23 Jan 2002 [correction to my email addrs]

Where & When:	Tuesdays, 19:20 to 22:00, Science & Technology I, room 126 Also available through Distance Learning Students may take any of the course's classes over the web using the distance learning software but: students must ask for a password to have access to the network-accessible version (see below), students may view the live or recorded lectures anywhere (home, office, on campus), but must be present, in person, to write the midterm and final examinations.
Instructor:	Charles Snow, Adjunct Professor Office Hours: Tuesdays, 16:00 to 18:00, ST2 room 465 (across from main Department office) Email: csnow@cs.gmu.edu
Pre-requisites:	CS571 Operating Systems or equivalent, STAT344 Probability and Statistics for Engineers and Scientists I, or equivalent ability to program in C/C++
Description:	The course will present data communications fundamentals and computer networking methods, using the ISO 7-layer reference model to organize the study. Attention will be focused on the protocols of the physical, data link control, network, and transport layers, for local and wide area networks. Emphasis will be given to the Internet Protocol Suite. Students will program simplified versions of the protocols as part of the course project.
Required Texts:	Stallings, Data and Computer Communications, 6th Ed., Prentice Hall, 2000 Pullen, Understanding Internet Protocols, Wiley, 2000
Course Project:	Students will use the Network Workbench (NW), software developed at GMU that simulates a protocol stack and displays the results, using a text interface. Students will create modules for Internet stack layers and run them in the NW environment. The project will be built up incrementally through the semester (see Grading, below). NW is available for downloading for Windows, linux and Solaris platforms; current version is 4.2.
Grading:	The final grade for this course is made up from: 30% Midterm, 35% Project, 35% Final Exam The project is built incrementally through the semester with: DLC1, DLC2, DLC3, LAN1, WAN2, TRN1 and INT3 counting 5 points each. LAN2, WAN3, WAN4, INT1, and INT2 may be done for extra credit, counting 2 points each. Course work must be recived by 19:30 of the due date. Late work is subject to a penalty that begins at 10%, and doubles for each class the work is late. Missed exams must be arranged with the instructor before the exam date. While students are encouraged to discuss solutions to project problems, each student must submit their own, original, work. Students are expected to abide by both the George Mason University Honor System and Code (which contains a definition of plagiarism, amongst other things). and the Computer Science Department Honor Code Policy for Programming Projects. Further academic policy information is available here. Extra credit is available by doing extra projects, however no student who fails the final exam will receive a grade higher than C, regardless of extra credit earned.
Syllabus:	This is the projected course outline, and is subject to revision. Each item below corresponds to one class: Course introduction; network concepts; 7-layer and 5-layer models / Chapters 1 & 2 / NW Setup Physical layer: transmission media, coding / Chapters 3 & 4 / Project DLC1: Framing Analog/digital transmission, serial/parallel interfaces, multiplexing, CRC / Chapters 5, 6 & 8 / Project DLC2: CRC Data compression, security principles, integrity, appropriate use / Section 7.2, Chapter 18 / Project DLC1 due Data link control; discrete event simulation / Chapter 7 / Project DLC 3: ARQ ; Project DLC2 due Mid-Term Exam / Chapters 1 to 8 and 18 Local area networks / Chapters 13 & 14 / Project LAN1: CSMA/CD LAN Network Layer: WANs, X.25, routing / Chapters 9 & 10 / Project DLC3 due Internet Architecture (IPv4) / Chapters 15 (except 15.5) & 16 / Project WAN 2: Forwarding and Optimization ; Project LAN1 due Queueing basics; transport layer: TCP and UDP / Chapter 17 / Project TRN1: Reliable Transport Multicast, multimedia and ATM networking / Section 15.5, Chapter 11 / Project INT3: Integrated Stack; Project WAN2 due Network Security and Network Management / Chapter 18 / Project TRN1 due Higher layer protocols / Chapter 19 / Project INT3 due Reading day / extra-credit projects due (but they may be submitted earlier) Final exam (comprehensive) / Chapters 1 to 19 (except 12) /
Other Notes:	Course notices and assignments will be provided via email and/or on the course web site http://cs.gmu.edu/~csnow/cs656/2002B/index.html. Students are responsible for ensuring that the instructor has a valid email address at which the student can be reached. Students assume all responsibility for the security of their email. Course material (e.g., pdf versions of class slides, supplementary material, homework solutions) will be available on the course web site. This course is available, via Internet, to computers anywhere (using a package called ClassWiseTM). Students may dial-up through GMU facilities, or use any other Internet access they have available to them. The web-cast of the classes provides the slides presented in class, synchronized with the instructor's voice and annotations. Students may submit written questions to the instructor during the class. The classes are also recorded, and are available for playback later. A password is required to access online course delivery. To obtain a password for ClassWise access, send an email message to help@netlab.gmu.edu and include your standard GMU computer account name.