Computer Science › Section E · Networking and the internet › Topic E.1
Network fundamentals
Almost every program you use talks to another computer. Before studying the internet itself, you need the basic vocabulary of networks: how far they reach, how machines are wired together, how they take turns on a shared channel, and which devices join small networks into larger ones.
In this topic
- What a network is
- Topology: bus, star and mesh
- Protocols and taking turns: CSMA/CD
- Wireless turn-taking: CSMA/CA
- Joining networks: from repeaters to routers
- Worked example: a message crossing an internet
- Bandwidth and latency
- Worked example: one big file or many small requests
- Client/server and peer-to-peer
- Distributed systems: clusters, grids and the cloud
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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