Computer Networking : Principles, Protocols and Practice

Reviewed by Venkatesh Patil, Adjunct Faculty, Portland State University on 1/27/23

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book is sufficiently comprehensive for the introductory CS/EE courses. It covers topics from the top-down perspective of the OSI model. Most other books will start with a bottom-up approach. Fundamentals are covered in a systematic way.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

Content is accurately presented as in the scope of this book.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

Since the fundamentals of networking have remained the same, the topics covered are still relevant as an introductory understanding. Future releases could include more on security/cryptography to keep up with the latest changes.

Clarity rating: 4

Topics are clearly presented, with exercises and solutions. Protocols are explained in step-by-step manner.

Consistency rating: 5

The book maintains consistency with the topics covered and terminology used. Slowly it starts with concepts and builds on them.

Modularity rating: 4

The sections of the book is divided nicely. The index, titles and sub-sections are clear and easy to follow.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

Nicely organized in a logical fashion from a top-down approach. Index topics are clear and easy to follow.

Interface rating: 5

There are no navigation issues, and the structure is well maintained throughout the book.

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

No grammatical mistakes found

Cultural Relevance rating: 4

The book is technical in nature and found no issues with cultural biases.

Comments

Great book as an introductory courses for CS/ES classes. Cleary presented topics as described in the scope of the book. A great addition for understanding networking concepts. New revision could add latest technological updates.

Reviewed by Suban Krishnamoorthy, Professor, Framingham State University on 6/12/20

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

Textbook covers almost all areas of TCP/IP Internet protocol except security, network management and protocols for real-time applications and Internet Application layer protocols such as FTP, SNMP, SMTP, and HTTP in details.

Content Accuracy rating: 4

There are couple of spelling errors.
Other than that the textbook is accurate and unbiased.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The publication of the textbook is 2011, which is almost 10 years old. It was not updated to cover the technological changes that appeared since 2011. The good part is most of the TCP/IP layers remained the same. The date of publication gives the impression that it is outdated or old in the minds of the readers and the students in the course. It will be beneficial to revise the textbook up-to-date. It will make it easier to adopt as a textbook for the relevant networking courses.

Clarity rating: 4

The presentation of materials is mostly clear. However, sometimes few abbreviations will appear without its expansion at its first appearance resulting in reader not knowing what it is. In other cases, a concept will appear without prior coverage of it and hence readers will not know what it is making the material difficult to understand.

Consistency rating: 4

The presentation of materials is consistent. However, sometimes few abbreviations will appear without its expansion at its first appearance resulting in reader not knowing what it is. In other cases, a concept will appear without prior coverage of it and hence readers will not know what it is making the material difficult to understand.

Modularity rating: 4

The networking technology is such that the chapters cannot be easily rearranged or read at random. Some of the concepts must be understood to learn the later materials. In this sense, there is certain level of rigidity in the presentation order of materials.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 4

The author claims that the presentation is top down meaning present the chapters from Internet Application layer to physical layer, which is true for most part. However, in the first chapter is mixed layer presentation.

Interface rating: 4

The presentation of materials is mostly free of interface issues. However, sometimes few abbreviations will appear without its expansion at its first appearance resulting in reader not knowing what it is. In other cases, a concept will appear without prior coverage of it and hence readers will not know what it is making the material difficult to understand

Grammatical Errors rating: 4

Could not find grammatical errors except couple of spelling errors.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

Networking subject has little with races and ethnicity.

Comments

The last published date of the book is 2011, which is 9 years ago. It gives the impression that the book is old and less attractive to adopt even though TCP/IP Internet protocol as not changed much. The book should be revised soon with topics indicated below to be more attractive to adopt.

Security is a major issue nowadays. Also wireless LAN used by more and more people and schools. Cellular network supporting the cell phones with Internet access has become normal. In fact, more cell phones are in use and sold compared to laptops and desktops. Including a chapter about cellular network will be helpful.
Presentation of various materials could be improved. Somehow it feels like the material presented is a bunch of monotonous paragraphs of text making it less attractive to read with interest compared to most textbooks. It makes it less attractive to keep reading paying attention to details. Appearance of the figures could be improved to be more attractive.
Overall the book is adaptable as a free text given the fact that the textbooks are very expensive and is not affordable for almost all students taking or more courses in a semester. Even the used textbook is not cheap.
I have not seen any information about instructor materials like PowerPoint slides presentation of each chapter, exam/quiz questions, etc. It will be helpful to information about these materials included in the textbook including how to get access to them.
At this point, I am inclined to adapt the book for my networking course.

Reviewed by Ronny Bazan, Assistant Professor of Practice, MOBIUS on 1/8/19

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The text is well organized and covers basic computer networking concepts.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Although some data is old (since the text is from 2011), the content is accurate.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

The computer networking area evolves quickly, so the content is not up-to-date.

Clarity rating: 5

Data are presented clearly, content is well organized.

Consistency rating: 5

The content is easy to follow, hence consistency is high.

Modularity rating: 5

The textbook presents a good index, titles and subtitles are well organized.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The textbook is well organized.

Interface rating: 5

Content is presented clearly.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I couldn't find any grammatical error.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

The text does not present offensive content.

Reviewed by John Hoag, Associate Professor, Ohio University on 2/1/18

Comprehensiveness rating: 4 see less

The book is more sufficiently comprehensive for an a single or introductory networking class for in an EE or CS program. It is sufficiently conceptual with good visuals and does not delve into programming for either explications or exercises.

Its selection of topics is comparable with commercial textbooks, arguably more modern and complete than some.

Data communications and wide-area networking, ie, at lower protocol levels, is not emphasized.

The book contains both exercises (with solutions) an simulation problems.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

Content appears to be error-free and consistent with primary sources, ie RFCs.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 4

All books in this field require constant refreshing - and the Open format may be much more amenable than print. Emerging topics - cloud, virtualization, software-defined assets - impact networking and will motivate further updates.

Note that comparable print textbooks require approximately 3-year refresh cycles.

Clarity rating: 4

Clarity is a strength of the book. The author uses plain language, supported by appropriate graphics and symbology. Moreover, the author uses more personal sidebars throughout to add context and the right touch of informality.

Consistency rating: 5

The book embraces the better approach of "climbing the protocol ladder" which builds a framework for the cumulative understanding. Concepts are introduced in this order, such that material is consistently defined before further used.

Modularity rating: 5

The book is sufficiently modular in that, within the constraints of schedule of availability of lab equipment, later material can be omitted at the instructor's discretion.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

As mentioned previously, the "classic" way to teach networking is to build a framework based on communication protocols that is cumulative. This book does this well, with appropriate

Interface rating: 5

Book interface - navigation, presentation - are well-done.

Ideally, I would ask for some interface that provides time-on-task on a per-student, per-login basis.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

Book is grammatically excellent, readable - and more likely, translatable by international students.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

This subject matter is technical and global, and cultural relevance is not an issue.

Comments

I am the last among my colleagues to adopt - and advocate for - a textbook. Evidence shows that having a common body of knowledge - taxonomy and ontology - improves our departmental outcomes. However, commercial options are both stale and costly, so this book (or one like it) may become our "common reader." I will adopt this next semester for a graduate class - on the strength of the later quantitative elements - and will make an internal recommendation at that time.

Reviewed by Donald Easton, Faculty Instructor, Lane Community College on 6/20/17

Comprehensiveness rating: 5 see less

What I found interesting about this book is the author's approach to order of topic discussion. As was pointed out in the introduction, most textbooks that discuss computer networking, and the OSI and TCP/IP models specifically, is that it is standard practice to begin with the physical layer and make your way up to the application layer. In this text, readers were introduced to the application layer first. The rationale behind this is that the audience has changed dramatically since computer networking came into existence. Most students have had fairly extensive exposure to the Internet, so approaching it from the point at where these individuals are on familiar ground may make it more engaging for them and assist in information retention. Many of these students are not engineers, so starting out with bits and bytes may be less appealing to them. The text is a good adaptation of this way of thinking and I feel it could be very effective in bringing in and retaining future technologists.

Content Accuracy rating: 5

There was no noticeable bias and the text is accurate in this content area.

Relevance/Longevity rating: 5

Although this book takes a different approach to introducing computer networking to students, the fundamentals of networking are fairly stationary. This author refrained from that level of specificity that would render this book obsolete within a relatively short period of time.

Clarity rating: 4

The book maintained a high level of clarity. I feel that there were moments where the author took us "into the weeds", but the overall flow was well done.

Consistency rating: 5

There were no issues with consistency. Standard industry terminology was consistent throughout the text.

Modularity rating: 5

The book makes itself available in a modular approach. An example of this may be that an instructor may decide to only discuss the data-link and network layers when covering traditional layer 2 and 3 routing and switching.

Organization/Structure/Flow rating: 5

The text covered the topics in logical, clear fashion. As I mentioned earlier, the order in which the topics are presented differ from other texts commonly used for this topic, but I do not see that as a detriment, but more a benefit to a more technically proficient student body.

Interface rating: 5

The interface of the book is adequate. I saw no issues with the current structure.

Grammatical Errors rating: 5

I found the book to grammatically sound.

Cultural Relevance rating: 5

There are no issues related to cultural relevance with this text.

Comments

I enjoyed reviewing this text. I feel Dr. Bonaventure put together a well written textbook and I appreciate his approach in reorganizing topics based on a changing audience. I would recommend this book as a solid textbook for an introductory/intermediate networking class.