Network Fundamentals

CENEF001

Today's internet is arguably the largest engineered system ever created by humanity, carrying petabytes of data every minute. It is important for data engineers to understand how data is transferred through the internet, and what are the guiding principles and structure of the data transportation protocols.

This subject provides students with a modern introduction to the dynamic field of computer networking, including layered network architecture and the TCP/IP protocol suite. Student practical works include observing network traffic in action and building their own network applications trhough socket programming.

By developing problem solving and design skills in this subject, students also acquire the ability to select the most appropriate network services, design and develop network applications, e.g. web server and email clients, to achieve the best data performance.