Data Communications and
Networks (IT-213)
Lecture 0.0
Spring 2021
Agenda
• Introduction
Course
• Course Overview
Administrivia and Logistics
• Motivation for studying the course
Begin at the beginning and go on till you come to the end; then stop.
—Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll
2
About this Course
• Introduction to fundamental concepts of data communication and computer networks
• To introduce the layered architecture approach with reference to OSI Model
• To examine the characteristics of different transmission media.
• To understand various error detection, flow and error control techniques
• To introduce basic network devices and LAN technologies.
• To provide fundamental concepts of switched networks.
• To provide the IP addressing concepts and subnetting skills
• Text Book:
Data Communications and Networking by Behrouz A. Forouzan, Fifth Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill companies
• Reference Book:
Data and Computer Communications by William Stallings, Seventh Edition, Prentice Hall, 2004
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Logistics
• Prereq: Introduction to ICT
• Credit Hours: 3 + 1
• Tuesdays and Thursdays
• Primary form of interaction: Classroom
• Secondary: Piazza (You’ve been registered already!)
• Tools: PacketTracer, WireShark, etc.
• Programming Language: Java/Python/C++ (Mostly CPP)
4
Course Overview
• Data Communications: Fundamental Concepts, Standards, Data Transmission,
Transmission Media, Encoding and Modulation Techniques, Multiplexing, Interfacing,
Error Detection, Flow and Error Control.
• Computer Networks: Local Area Networks, Wide Area Networks, Switched Networks,
Network Topologies, LAN Technologies, Network Devices, Network Security issues.
• Protocols and Standards: OSI Reference Model, TCP/IP Protocol Suite Overview,
Protocols structure of different layers, IP Addressing and Subnetting.
• Lab Work: LAN Cabling using twisted pair, Internetworking Devices orientation, LAN
Designing, LAN Implementation, Basic Trouble shooting, Utility Tools including (File
Sharing, Net sharing, Data Recovery, Ghost, partition Magic, Antivirus, etc), Wireless
LAN devices Orientation and WLAN Implementation, Programming Exercises, basics
of Simulation tools, Exercises of Flow control, error control and network design
5
Focus
• the principles of networking
• the protocol layering of the Internet
• the TCP/IP protocol suite
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Why study DCN?
• The impact is broad and far-reaching:
• Business decisions have to be made ever more quickly, and the decision makers require
immediate access to accurate information.
• Many applications in political and social issues:
People have found how to communicate with other people in the world to express their social and
political opinions and problems.
• The Internet is used for research, shopping, airline reservations, checking the latest
news and weather, and so on.
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More Motivation for Studying DCN
• The computer communications revolution has produced several remarkable facts:
There is no fundamental difference between data processing (computers) and data
communications (transmission and switching equipment).
There are no fundamental differences among data, voice, and video communications.
The distinction among single-processor computer, multiprocessor computer, local network,
metropolitan network, and long-haul network has blurred.
The fundamental problem of communication is that
of reproducing at one
point either exactly or approximately a message
selected at another point.
—The Mathematical Theory of Communication,
Claude Shannon
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Data Communication vs. Networking
• Data communications deals with the transmission of signals in a reliable and
efficient manner.
Examines how data, in the form of energy, travel across some medium from a source
to a destination
Topics covered include signal transmission, transmission media, signal encoding,
interfacing, data link control, and multiplexing.
• Networking deals with the technology and architecture of the communications
networks used to interconnect communicating devices.
This field is generally divided into the topics of local area networks (LANs) and wide
area networks (WANs).
