Data Communications and Networks I

                       CSCI:391:R1     Fall, 2009



      Instructor: Kenneth Brakke

      Office: SI 009

      Office phone: 4466

      Office hours: 1:00-3:00 daily.
             I am usually in my office 8:30 to 5:00 except for
             lunch and my other classes (11:15-12:20 MWF and 10:00-11:35 TTh).
             You can also make an appointment.

      Text: Computer networks and internets, 5th edition, Douglas E. Comer
            ISBN  978-0-13-606127-4


      Grading:     Exercises:     30%
                   Midterm:       30%
                   Final exam:    40%
      Point cutoffs for the course letter grade will be determined by
      me at the end of the semester; they will likely be close to the
      traditional 90-80-70.
      

      Course goals:

      To understand the basics of communication between computers,
      from the hardware level on up.  Serial, parallel, ethernet,
      hubs, switches, routers, local area networks, wide area networks,
      TCP/IP, Internet, DHCP, DNS, email, HTTP, web servers, etc.  More 
      advanced topics such as security will be the subject of the follow-on 
      course.
      

      Class attendence policy: Be there.  The Student Handbook states
        that one week's equivalence of absences is grounds for an F.
        I will note absences, and anybody that has what I regard as
        excessive absences will have their grade lowered as I see fit.


      Cheating and plagiarism: Don't.  Studying together to understand
        the material is fine, but the work you hand in is to be your
        own.  Many assignments by their nature will have to be done by
        pairs of students, and such assignments may be submitted jointly,
        with both names clearly included.  See the Student Handbook for the 
        dire consequences of cheating or plagiarism.