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Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach cover

Computer Science

Computer Science

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach

James F. Kurose; Keith W. Ross

Introduces networking from the application layer down through transport, network, link, and physical layers, using Internet protocols to motivate design choices. The eighth global edition covers software-defined and mobile networks. Basic programming is useful; packet-analysis exercises can deepen the reading.

Prerequisites: Basic programming; the authors require little mathematics beyond high school, and no prior networking knowledge is assumed.

Difficulty Level
Intermediate
Academic Level
Undergraduate
computer networksinternet protocolsapplication layertransport layerwireless networking

01 / Reading Guide

Reading Guide

Citation

Kurose, J. F., & Ross, K. W. (2025). Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (9th ed.). Pearson.

Chapter Summary

The ninth edition, published by Pearson in June 2025, has eight chapters, one for each layer of the Internet's layered architecture plus chapters on wireless and mobile networks and on security. The publisher describes the book as introducing networking in a top-down manner, from the application layer toward the physical layer, and as more precise and analytical than other introductory texts while rarely using mathematics beyond high school. The edition responds to the arrival of Wi-Fi 6, 5G cellular networks and the "software-ization" of cellular networks, and it updates many sections across the book, with new coverage of HTTP/3 and QUIC, new material on content distribution networks and streaming services, and updated security. Every chapter ends with a summary, homework problems and questions, and hands-on assignments, and each closes with an interview with a figure from the field.

Chapter 1: Computer Networks and the Internet

Describes the Internet in terms of its parts and its services, introduces protocols, and covers the network edge (access networks, physical media) and the network core (packet switching, circuit switching, a network of networks). It treats delay, loss and throughput, protocol layering and encapsulation, networks under attack, and a history of computer networking from 1961 to the new millennium. The interview is with Leonard Kleinrock.

Chapter 2: Application Layer

Begins with the principles of network applications (architectures, communicating processes, the transport services available), then covers the Web and HTTP (persistent connections, message format, cookies, caching, HTTP/2, HTTP/3 and QUIC), electronic mail, DNS, video streaming and content distribution networks (DASH, CDNs, Netflix and YouTube as case studies), and socket programming with UDP, TCP and QUIC.

Chapter 3: Transport Layer

Covers transport-layer services, multiplexing and demultiplexing, UDP, the principles of reliable data transfer (building a protocol, pipelining, Go-Back-N, Selective Repeat), TCP (segment structure, round-trip time estimation, flow control, connection management), the principles of congestion control and TCP congestion control, including newer end-to-end algorithms, explicit congestion notification and fairness, and a section on the evolution of transport-layer functionality. The interview is with Van Jacobson.

Chapter 4: The Network Layer: Data Plane

Distinguishes forwarding from routing, looks inside a router (input and output ports, switching, queuing, packet scheduling), and covers IP: IPv4 datagrams and addressing, NAT and IPv6. It then presents generalized forwarding and software-defined networking (match plus action, OpenFlow, middleboxes) and architectural principles of the Internet. The interview is with Vinton Cerf.

Chapter 5: The Network Layer: Control Plane

Covers routing algorithms (link-state and distance-vector), OSPF, BGP (advertising routes, determining best routes, IP-anycast, routing policy), the SDN control plane with OpenFlow, ICMP, and network management with SNMP and NETCONF/YANG. Assignments include an ICMP ping and a routing programming assignment, and the interview is with Jennifer Rexford.

Chapter 6: The Link Layer and LANs

Covers link-layer services, error detection and correction (parity, checksums, CRC), multiple access protocols (channel partitioning, random access, taking turns, DOCSIS), switched local area networks (link-layer addressing and ARP, Ethernet, switches, VLANs), link virtualization with MPLS and VXLANs, data center networking, and a retrospective section, "A Day in the Life of a Web Page Request", that follows one request through DHCP, DNS, ARP, routing, TCP and HTTP.

Chapter 7: Wireless and Mobile Networks

Sections run through the wireless physical layer (channel characteristics, coding and modulation), the wireless access network (channel sharing, Wi-Fi 802.11, the 5G radio access network, discovery, scheduling, energy), the wireless core network (the 5G core, the user-plane function, identity and session establishment), mobility in principle and in Wi-Fi and 5G, and Bluetooth, satellite and IoT networks. A programming assignment implements a 4G/5G RAN scheduler.

Chapter 8: Security in Computer Networks

Covers what network security is, the principles of cryptography (symmetric key and public key), message integrity and digital signatures, end-point authentication, securing e-mail (including PGP), TLS (including TLS 1.3), network-layer security with IPsec and VPNs, securing wireless LANs and 4G/5G, and operational security with firewalls and intrusion detection systems.

Key Concepts

Chapters 1–2

  • Packet switching and layering: data moves as packets through a network of networks, with functions divided among encapsulating layers.
  • Delay, loss and throughput: the quantitative vocabulary for performance.
  • HTTP, DNS and content distribution: the Web's protocols, the directory service and the systems that deliver video at scale.

Chapters 3–5

  • Reliable data transfer and congestion control: building reliability on an unreliable channel and limiting senders' rates.
  • Data plane and control plane: forwarding in each router versus computing routes, including the software-defined versions.
  • Intra-AS and inter-AS routing: OSPF within a network and BGP between ISPs.

Chapters 6–8

  • Multiple access and switched LANs: sharing a broadcast channel, ARP, Ethernet, switches and VLANs.
  • Wi-Fi and 5G: wireless access, the cellular core and mobility.
  • Cryptographic building blocks and secure protocols: encryption, hashing, signatures and their use in TLS and IPsec.

Critical Analysis

Strengths

  • A consistent method. The top-down order starts from applications students already use and works downward, and the chapter structure and end-of-chapter assignments follow through on that choice.
  • Hands-on work built in. The contents list Wireshark labs for HTTP and DNS, TCP and UDP, IP, ICMP, Ethernet, Wi-Fi and cellular, and TLS and IPsec, alongside socket programming assignments, a routing assignment and a 4G/5G scheduler assignment.
  • Light prerequisites. The publisher says the book rarely uses mathematics beyond high school, and presents it as accessible without extensive programming or mathematical knowledge.
  • Current wireless and application material. The ninth edition's wireless chapter is organised around the physical layer, Wi-Fi and the 5G access and core networks, and Chapter 2 includes HTTP/3, QUIC and streaming.
  • A unifying retrospective. Section 6.7 follows one web request across the protocols of Chapters 2 to 6.

Limitations

  • No dedicated physical-layer chapter. Physical media appear as a section of Chapter 1 and the wireless physical layer within Chapter 7; there is no chapter on signals and transmission, so readers who want that need another text.
  • Breadth over depth. The publisher stresses accessibility, so performance modelling and protocol internals are left to specialised texts.
  • Edition differences. The ninth edition updates many sections, and its wireless chapter is organised differently from the eighth edition's, so section numbers and exercises from the eighth edition do not always match.

Where It Fits in the Course

Kurose and Ross is a natural first full textbook for a networking course. Tanenbaum, Feamster and Wetherall's Computer Networks covers similar ground from the physical layer upward and can be read as an alternative or a pair. Forouzan's Data Communications and Networking with TCP/IP Protocol Suite is also bottom-up, moving from signals and transmission media to applications, and Comer's The Internet Book is a non-mathematical introduction for readers who want an overview first.

After this book, Fall and Stevens's TCP/IP Illustrated, Volume 1 examines each protocol through packet traces and suits readers who enjoyed the Wireshark labs, and Varghese and Xu's Network Algorithmics is a graduate text on making routers and end hosts fast, building on the router material in Chapter 4.

How to Use This Book

The book suits a first course in networking for computer science, electrical engineering and information-systems students, first-year graduate students, and developers who want to understand what lies beneath sockets and HTTP libraries. Experience with one common programming language is enough.

A practical plan:

  • Core: Chapters 1 to 6 in order. Chapter 3 is the conceptual centre and deserves the slowest reading; in Chapter 5, work through the link-state and distance-vector algorithms by hand before reading about OSPF and BGP.
  • By emphasis: Chapter 7 for mobile and wireless networking and Chapter 8 for security.
  • Tie-together: read Section 6.7 after Chapter 6 and trace the same request in a packet capture.
  • Practice: do the Wireshark labs alongside the matching chapters and write the UDP and TCP socket programs from Chapter 2.