Data Communications Fundamentals

COMPSCI 314FC

Information copied from the Handbook entry

 

Prerequisites	COMPSCI 210 and one other Stage II Computer Science paper.
Assessment	Final Exam 70%; Test 15%; Assignments 15%  (Passes required in both practical and written work.)
Lecturers	Assoc Prof Nevil Brownlee (Room 590) Prof Clark Thomborson (Room 593) Assoc Prof Peter Fenwick
Time & Location	Mon, Wed, Fri 11-12am Large Chemistry Theatre
Recommended Text	F. Halsall, "Computer Networking and the Internet," Addison-Wesley, (5th Ed) The course is based on this text; you should plan to read the sections from it that are covered in the course.
Description	The fundamentals of data communications and computer networks, concentrating on the OSI model up to and including the Transport Layer (Level 4). It includes Local Area Networks, an introduction to Internet Protocols and applications such as Email and Voice over IP.
Contents	The course will be based on the textbook, i.e. lectures (and lecture handouts) are aimed at directing students to the relevant sections of the textbook. Some sections of the textbook are not covered in the course. The course outline (below) lists the sections that are most likely to be covered. Expected topics include: physical transmission techniques and coding, data security and integrity, protocols, local area networks, wide area networks, routing, Internet appications

Tutor

DongJin Lee

dlee064@ec.auckland.ac.nz

You may look at the Archive section to see material from earlier years. 

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Office Hours and Contacts

DongJin's office hours are Wed 3-5 pm, room 596.
 
Nevil Brownlee does not have formal "Office Hours," preferring to have an open door policy, so that students can see him whenever they desire, from about 10am to 4.30pm. If the time is inconvenient he may ask you to come back later, or perhaps make an appointment.

Clark Thomborson's office hours are Mon 2-3pm and Wed 3-4pm, in room 303.593.  You may ask him very short questions at other times, but he prefers to work by email.

Peter Fenwick is usually available in Room 303 567 on the day of each lecture from 10.00-10.30 and for a while after the lecture. He is unlikely to be available at other times and certainly not Tuesdays and Thursdays.   Students with questions should approach him after the lecture or send email to p.fenwick@auckland.ac.nz (remembering to identify the class, and with your student ID).

We are unlikely to answer email from home, so do not expect responses during the evening.

All email messages must include the class "catalogue" number (CS 314) and your student ID number.

Messages which do not not include this information will be treated as spam.
This applies especially to those from an address such as "happy653@yahoo.com"

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Cheating and Plagiarism

The Department of Computer Science has instituted a general policy on cheating and plagiarism.
Briefly, if we detect material in assignments or projects that appears to be copied from elsewhere, we will give zero marks for that assignment or project.
Appeals must be in writing to the Head of Department (not to the lecturer).
You may read the policy on Academic honesty.

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Exam and Test Information

Exam Date: To be advised

Test Date: Monday, 8 May 2006
Time: 6.25 - 7.30pm

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Timetable for 2006.

This table represents a first estimate of topics to be covered throughout the lectures, together with assignment and test dates. All details are subject to change.

• Lectures are at 11-12am on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, in the Large Chemistry theatre.
• The dates are the start of each week, with all assignments due on Wednesdays, exact details to be arranged.
• While this is the general plan of the allocation of topics to each lecture,
  the division and allocation of material is by no means guaranteed.

Topics may very well move slightly as the course develops.
The numbers at the start of each lecture entry are just the sequential numbers of the lectures.
For each lecture, the textbook sections we expect to cover are shown after the lecture title.

Week Starts	Monday	Wednesday	Friday	Ass etc
27 Feb, 2006	1 Introduction   1 - 1.2	2 Basics   1.3	3 Protocols   1.4 - 1.4.2
6 Mar, 2006	4 Protocols   1.4.3 - 1.4.9	5 'Phones   1.5 - 2.2	6 Analog Access   2.3, 2.3.1, 2.5
13 Mar, 2006	7 No lecture	8 ISPs, PPP   2.6, 2.6.4	9 Compression   App A, A.2.1	Ass 1 due    Wed, 15 Mar
20 Mar, 2006	10 Compression   A.2.2, A.2.3	11 Err Detect   Apppendix B	12 Fwd Err Corr   Appendix C
27 Mar, 2006	13 LANS, Ethernet   3.1, 3.2	14 Lan Connect   3.3	15 HS & VLANs   3.4, 3.5
3 Apr, 2006	16 No lecture	17 Security   10.1, 10.2	18 Security   10.3, 10.4	Ass 2 due    Wed, 5 Apr
12 Apr, 2006	19 Security   10.5, 10.6	20 Web Security   9.1, 9.2, 10.7, 10.8	Easter
17 Apr, 2006	Mid Semester Break
24 Apr, 2006	Mid Semester Break
1 May, 2006	21 WLANs   4.1, 4.3, 4.4.1	22 IP   6.1 - 6.4	23 Routing, DV   6.5 - 6.5.3	Ass 3 due    Wed, 3 May
8 May, 2006	24 Tutorial	25 Routing, LS   6.5.4 - 6.5.6	26 Routing, BGP   6.6	Test: Mon, 8 May
15 May, 2006	27 IPv6   6.8	28 TCP   7.1 - 7.3.2	29 TCP   7.3.3, 7.3.4
22 May, 2006	30 UDP, Streaming   7.4 - 7.6	31 DNS   8.1 - 8.2	33 Email, FTP   8.3, 8.4	Ass 4 due    Wed, 24 May
29 May, 2006	33 VoIP   8.6	34 Net Management   8.7	35 Tutorial
5 Jun, 2006	No lectures - just lots of time to study