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Guide to OSI and TCP/IP models
Alani M., Springer Publishing Company, Incorporated, New York, NY, 2014. 62 pp. Type: Book (978-3-319051-51-2)
Date Reviewed: Jul 22 2014

Teaching networking basics to beginners is by no means an easy task, especially when it comes to abstract models such as Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) and transmission control protocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP). Fortunately, I must compliment the author of this book on a job very well done.

Working as an assistant professor in the Department of Telecommunications at AGH University of Science and Technology, I teach first-year students the introduction to networks course. Therefore, I was very happy to read this book, as this was a chance for me to see how other people teach basics to beginners.

As mentioned, this book provides a guide to both the OSI and TCP/IP models, complemented with the most important applications or protocols related to networking. Chapter 1 introduces the reader to the world of computer networks, explaining basic concepts and definitions. The chapter ends with a justification for why layered models are suited for networking. The OSI model is covered in chapter 2. The author first presents all the layer stacks, and then ventures through layers one by one starting from the bottom. Chapter 3 describes the TCP/IP model. It is designed similarly, except that in the beginning the author presents a comparison between both models. In this chapter, a set of protocols is also introduced. These include IP, TCP, the user datagram protocol (UDP), the address resolution protocol (ARP), the reverse ARP (RARP), the hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP), the domain name system (DNS), the file transfer protocol (FTP), the trivial FTP (TFTP), the simple mail transfer protocol (SMTP), the post office protocol version 3 (POP3), and applications such as Telnet. All this is important to grasp the idea of how computer networks operate.

I value this book for its easiness to read. It is a good textbook for students, although its scope is limited. It might also be a good read for people from other fields looking for core concepts of networking. I must admit that I have picked up a few things here and there, such as certain analogies or examples, and I am going to use them in my teaching.

Being a professional, there is a certain difficulty in presenting the basics. Beginners often find it difficult to grasp all the knowledge even though the presenters try their best to explain it in the simplest possible way. This is not the case here. I am sure that after having read the book, everyone would easily understand how computer networks work.

Reviewer:  Robert Wojcik Review #: CR142534 (1410-0807)
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