Computer Networking [Global Edition]

This print textbook is available for students to rent for their classes. The Pearson print rental program provides students with affordable access to learning materials, so they come to class ready to succeed.

A top-down, layered approach to computer networking.

Unique among computer networking texts, the 8th Edition of the popular Computer Networking: A Top Down Approach builds on the authors’ long tradition of teaching this complex subject through a layered approach in a “top-down manner.” The text works its way from the application layer down toward the physical layer, motivating students by exposing them to important concepts early in their study of networking. Focusing on the Internet and the fundamentally important issues of networking, this text provides an excellent foundation for students in computer science and electrical engineering, without requiring extensive knowledge of programming or mathematics. The 8th Edition has been updated to reflect the most important and exciting recent advances in networking, including the importance of software-defined networking (SDN) and the rapid adoption of 4G/5G networks and the mobile applications they enable.

About our authors

Jim Kurose is a Distinguished University Professor in the College of Information and Computer Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where he has been on the faculty since receiving his PhD in computer science from Columbia University. He received a BA in physics from Wesleyan University. He has held a number of visiting scientist positions in the US and abroad, including IBM Research, INRIA and the Sorbonne University in France. He recently completed a 5-year term as Assistant Director at the US National Science Foundation, where he led the Directorate of Computer and Information Science and Engineering in its mission is to uphold the nation's leadership in scientific discovery and engineering innovation.

Jim is proud to have mentored and taught an amazing group of students, and to have received a number of awards for his research, teaching and service, including the IEEE Infocom Award, the ACM SIGCOMM Lifetime Achievement Award, the ACM Sigcomm Test of Time Award and the IEEE Computer Society Taylor Booth Education Medal. Dr. Kurose is a former Editor-in-Chief of IEEE Transactions on Communications and of IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. He has served as Technical Program Co-Chair for IEEE Infocom, ACM SIGCOMM, ACM Internet Measurement Conference and ACM SIGMETRICS. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the ACM. His research interests include network protocols and architecture, network measurement, multimedia communication, and modeling and performance evaluation.

Keith Ross is the Dean of Engineering and Computer Science at NYU Shanghai and the Leonard J. Shustek Chair Professor in the Computer Science and Engineering Department at NYU. Previously he was at University of Pennsylvania (13 years), Eurecom Institute (5 years) and NYU-Poly (10 years). He received a B.S.E.E from Tufts University, a M.S.E.E. from Columbia University and a Ph.D. in Computer and Control Engineering from The University of Michigan. Keith Ross is also the co-founder and original CEO of Wimba, which develops online multimedia applications for e-learning and was acquired by Blackboard in 2010.

Professor Ross’s research interests have been in modeling and measurement of computer networks, peer-to-peer systems, content distribution networks, social networks and privacy. He is currently working in deep reinforcement learning. He is an ACM Fellow, an IEEE Fellow, recipient of the Infocom 2009 Best Paper Award and recipient of 2011 and 2008 Best Paper Awards for Multimedia Communications (awarded by IEEE Communications Society). He has served on numerous journal editorial boards and conference program committees, including IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, ACM SIGCOMM, ACM CoNext and ACM Internet Measurement Conference. He also has served as an advisor to the Federal Trade Commission on P2P file sharing.