ECE/CS 438  Communication Networks
Fall 2008


Instructor: Nitin Vaidya
Office hours: Monday, 10.30 am - 12.00 noon
Office location: 458 Coordinated Science Lab (CSL)
Phone: 265-5414
E-mail: nhv@illinois.edu

Lectures:  Monday, Wednesday, and Friday 2:00 pm - 2:50 pm, Engineering Hall, room 106B1


Teaching Assistants: 

  • Chun-cheng Chen (chen35@illinois.edu)
    • Office hours: 12:00 - 2:00 Wednesday
    • Office Location: 0207 Siebel Center

  • Vijay Raman (vraman3@illinois.edu)
    • Office hours: 2:00 - 4:00 Thursday
    • Office Location: 368 Everitt Lab

 

  • Required textbook:
    • Computer Networks: A Systems Approach, by Peterson and Davie, 4th Ed.

  • Other related books (not required):
    • W. Richard Stevens, UNIX Network Programming, (Subtitled Volume I: The Sockets Networking API) Third Edition, Addison-Wesley. (2003)
    • A. S. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, 4th edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 2002.
    • J. Kurose and K. Ross, "Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet"
    • W. Stallings, Data and Computer Communications, 5th edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1996.
    • D. E. Comer and R. E. Droms, Computer Networks and Internets, 2nd edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1998.
    • D. P. Bertsekas and R. Gallager, Data Networks, 2nd edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1991.
    • H. M. Deitel and P. J. Deitel, C: How to Program, 2nd edition, Pretice-Hall, Inc., 1994.
    • S. M. Ross, A First Course in Probability, 5th edition, Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1997.
Mid-term test:
  • October 22, 2008 (Wednesday) evening
    Time: 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
    Location: 151 Loomis Lab.
     Material covered through October 16 and the associated reading material included for the mid-term examination. The students should also see the slides used for the lectures. During the test, you are not expected to be able to reproduce the C code in the textbook (such as in Section 4.1.2) -- however, it is recommended that you read the code for an improved understanding of the course material. Please see the Lecture Summary and Readings page for more information on the reading material. The exam is closed-book closed-notes (no cheat sheet allowed). You may bring a calculator.


Final examination:
  • December 16, 2008 (Tuesday), starting at 1:30 p.m. (duration 2 hours 30 minutes)
    Room 269 Everitt Laboratory

     The final examination will be comprehensive. All material covered in the course (with the exception of SONET, IPv6 and MPLS) and the related readings are included for the final examination. You may bring 2 hand-written sheets (that is, 4 sides) of notes to the final examination. Each sheet of notes may be at most 8.5 inch x 11 inch size ("standard letter" size). Please bring a calculator to the final exam.

    The final exam schedule is based on the UIUC non-combined final examination schedule for Fall 2008. If you have a conflict, please let the instructor know as soon as possible. For the UIUC policy on final examination conflicts, please click here.