Week	Date	Topic	Reading/Slides	Assignment
1	1/15	Course introduction; overview of computer networks; The OSI seven-layer model;  introduction to the Internet and the World Wide Web HTML documents and simple forms	First Class notes	Web search exercise. (Due next week) Your own web page (Due next week)
2	1/22	HTML forms processing. CGI programming.  Fundamentals of networked applications.	Cassel/Austing  Chapter 1 Cassel/Austing  Chapter 2 Class notes	Begin Web Form Exercise Web page due
3	1/29	Introduction to the Networks Laboratory and installation and configuration of an Apache Web Server.  Class meets in G50 Mendel Science Center.	Apache documentation	Application #1: discussion of requirements, suggestions of projects.  By next week, put together a description of your project.  This application must run on more than one computer.  You may use Web tools and other support packages, but you must develop an original application.  The project description will be carefully reviewed and must be approved.  Be prepared to present your plan and show why it is a good learning experience.
4	2/5	Abstract Syntax Notation The Application Layer and Common Services: ACSE, ROSE, RTSE, CCR   Needs of remote execution    Class Notes:(will be revised before class)  ASN.1and Common Services	Cassel/Austing  Chapter 3  Cassel/Austing   Chapter 4	Web form exercise due Application #1 description due  List team members, project goals, deliverables
5	2/12	Client Server Computing Java Client and Java Server	Supplements
6	2/19	Email and File transfer applications	Cassel & Austing  Chapters 5 and 7
7	2/26	Presentations of Web resources		Each student will have 5-7 minutes to present one web resource you have submitted through the link tracker.  There will then be about 3 minutes for follow on comments by others who have reviewed that submission.  Other students may also comment on the resource and the topic as presented.  If the resource has not been reviewed, the presenter may have a little longer to talk about it, but there will still be required interaction by the rest of the class and time must be allowed. Each presentation should address the following:  * An overall description of what the resource is. * What is its relationship to the networking course? * Summarize what information the resource provides.  * Comment on the quality of the resource and its presentation. * Give examples of who might want to use that resource and why. Prepare a PowerPoint presentation or a Web based presentation or some other medium.  Store it in your portfolio and use it in giving your talk.
Break	3/5
8	3/12	Finish presentation of web resources Directory Services, Encryption,	Cassel, Austing Chapters 8, 9, 10	Application #1 due  Begin second application or research paper  (Possible extension of first application or paper related to it. Otherwise, new project) This project must include some network related topic.  You might experiment with the throughput of an application, for example.  You might evaluate the effects of using TCP vs UDP or compare performance over a LAN to performance over a WAN, for example.
9	3/19	Compression, Transport  By request:  Dealing with Spam mail Presentation of completed project 1	Cassel, Austing Chapter 10, 11	Exercises presented in class to be done by next week.
10	3/26	Complete Transport Layer. Begin Network Layer, including NAT, routing  Presentation of completed project 1	Chapter 12
11	4/2	Network Layer  Pictures from the Routing Lesson:1, 2,3, 4, 5, 6
12	4/9	Data Link Layer	Chapter 13
13	4/16	Complete Data Link Layer See demonstrations Connecting LANs
14	4/23	Firewalls and Wireless Networking
15	4/30	Conference style presentation of projects Attendance and active participation by all students at all sessions required  Abstracts of presentations will be available at least one week ahead of time.  There will be demonstrations of the working projects, and questions, suggestions from the audience
16	5/7	Conference style presentation of projects continues Attendance and active participation by all students at all sessions required  Abstracts of presentations will be available at least one week ahead of time.  There will be demonstrations of the working projects, and questions, suggestions from the audience

Basic expectations of the Web page assignment:

• A Title, suitably displayed.
• An address section at the bottom identifying you as the author and providing access to you if the reader wants to send feedback.
• A good background image.  Be careful that the text is still legible when displayed on the background you choose.
• At least one image.
• Links of the following kinds:
• to another place in the page,
• to another file in the same filespace as the web page,
• to another file that is not on the same computer system as the web page itself.
• A table or frames to organize the space of the page.

Make your goals clear and be sure the page is organized to present some kind of information well.
There is lots of room for creativity and imagination in this assignment.  These guides are given to describe a base expectation.  Go on from there in any way that seems appropriate for you.
 

Web pages created by class members:

Text

Cassel, Lillian N. and Richard H. Austing.  Computer Networks and Open Systems An Application Development Perspective.  Jones & Bartless Publisher.  2000 ISBN 0-7637-1122-5

You will need regular access to the class web page. You will need access to a computer system where you can prepare web materials and make them accessible to the rest of the class. You will also need to be able to write programs that use network resources and allow others in the class to have access to your programs. You will have an account on the department computers for this purpose. You may use other computers as long as the access requirements are met.

Access to G50 (The Networks Lab) will be available when you need it. The room is restricted to students in networking courses.  You will be given the combination of the lock on the door.  Do not share this information with anyone else.  The reason for this restriction is to allow adequate computing resources to support the networking courses and to give us freedom to do some experimenting that would not be appropriate for a general purpose laboratory.  Please respect the rules and do not give access to others.
 
 

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Grading
Your performance will be assessed based on regular, active participation in and contribution to the class discussions; some homework assignments such as the Web page creation, a project that you will design and implement; several class presentations of varying length. I prefer not to have examinations unless it seems necessary for the integrity of the course. An important component of class participation is finding related material for this course on the Web and submitting the links to be added to the class page.  You will be required to provide a written review of at least two such pages submitted by others.

Here is a starting point for a grading plan:
Grades available are A, B, C and F, with + / - options on the A, B, C grades.

1.  Do everything that is required for the course (submit every assignment on time, complete and correct), attend every class and participate actively.
        ===> B
2.  Do less than what is required, grade goes down.  The amount depends on how much is neglected.
3.  Do more than what is required, the grade goes up.  Again, the amount of increase depends on the degree of excellence of the work.

        Examples of extra effort (others are possible):

1. More web pages than required
2. More reviews than required
3. Contribute to the class beyond being present and participating.  For example, initiate discussions, followup on questions that come up and report back later, etc.
4. Do more than the basic requirement in each project.  For example, include additional functionality that enhances the project.  Please note, extra features do not count if the basic requirements are not met. Including features that reflect your understanding of theory aspects of the course is another example of a strong project that would earn credit beyond the basic score.   If you do a paper as one of the projects, you could have an exceptional list of references, push against the upper limit of paper length, do a particularly good exposition or analysis of your topic.

Class Projects

Class Projects links: