How computer networking connects people and computers

Computer networking is a group of computers and peripherals called hosts that exchange data using communication protocols and networking hardware. What connects people and computers through networks, and how can you understand the ways those connections are made? The lessons build a general understanding of how networks link devices and support communication.

2 articles, 1 video, 1 book · about 1 hr 4 min of reading and viewing

The reading path

1. Read
   

   computer networking · Wikipedia · 48 min read

   Computer networks link devices using electrical cable, optical fiber, and free space. In the OSI model, software for handling these media is defined at layers 1 and 2: the physical layer and the data link layer. In a star network, all nodes connect to a special central node. In a small switched Ethernet LAN, each client connects to a central network switch.

2. Read
   

   Bob Metcalfe, Ethernet Pioneer, Wins Turing Award | Quanta Magazine · Quanta Magazine · 6 min read

   Ethernet, the local networking technology that links personal computers around the world to the global internet, was invented in part by Bob Metcalfe. In the 1980s and 1990s, Metcalfe helped popularize the idea that a network's value grows rapidly with the number of users, a precept now known as Metcalfe's law. Ethernet became an open industry standard for local networking and continued to play an indispensable role as domestic plumbing for networks of personal computers. Vint Cerf said, "It was Ethernet that made that possible."

3. Watch
   

   The Internet Protocol | Networking tutorial (8 of 13) · YouTube · 10 min watch

   The video introduces IP, IP addressing, prefixes, routing, and forwarding as part of an intro to networking tutorial.

4. Book
   

   Little Brother · Bookshop.org

   Little Brother by Cory Doctorow follows Marcus aka "w1n5t0n," who uses his knowledge of the networked world to outwit his high school's surveillance systems, then faces the aftermath of a terrorist attack and decides to take down the DHS himself.

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