Published on the 28 Jan 2024

General Course Information

Course Code :  COMP3331

Year :  2024

Term :  Term 1

Course Details & Outcomes

Course Description

This course is an introductory course on computer networks aimed at students with a computer   science / electrical engineering background. You will focus on common paradigms and protocols used in present data communication. Through lectures, in-class activities, labs and assignments,  you will learn the theory and application of:

(1) Medium access control, congestion control,fow control, and reliable transmission,

(2) Addressing and naming,

(3) Routing and switching,

(4) Widely used protocols such as Ethernet, IP, TCP, UDP, HTTP, etc.

(5) Special-purpose networks including content delivery, peer-to-peer, and wireless networks, and

(6) Security threats and standard defensive techniques

This is a combined undergraduate and postgraduate course. The corresponding postgraduate course code is COMP9331.

Course Aims

The course aims to provide students with an overview of the core topics in computer networks and the Internet's architecture and protocols. Students will be introduced to network

programming and will learn to design and implement network protocols and applications and

evaluate network performance. As an introductory course, one of the aims is to prepare students for more advanced study in follow-on courses.

Relationship to Other Courses

Prerequisite: COMP1927 or COMP2521 or MTRN2500

Equivalent Courses: COMP9331

Course Learning Outcomes

Learning and Teaching Technologies

Echo 360 | EdStem | WebCMS

Learning and Teaching in this course

Course website: http://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3331/

Additional Course Information

Before commencing this course, students should:

  Have a good understanding of data structures and algorithms and basic probability theory.

  Be able to write working programs in C, Java or Python. The course will include a programming assignment and lab exercises.

Assessments

Assessment Structure

Assessment Details

Lab

Assessment Overview

Students will work on a set of small exercises to explore tools and techniques for analysing and building networking applications.

Marks are awarded by the lab demonstrators using criteria given in each lab exercise.

Course Learning Outcomes

  CLO3 : Design networked applications and protocols, and implement them in C, Java or

Python

  CLO4 : Analyse and evaluate the performance of computer networks

  CLO5 : Capture and analyse network trafc

Submission notes

Submission Instructions available in Lab Specifcations

Assessment information

Details are on the course website: https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3331

Assignment submission Turnitin type

This is not a Turnitin assignment

Mid term test

Assessment Overview

Students will undertake an online digital assessment platform-based exam held approximately in the middle of the term.

The exam will last for 75 minutes and will examine students on the topics covered from the frst half of the term.

Course Learning Outcomes

  CLO1 : Describe the current architecture of the Internet and the entities involved in its

operations

  CLO2 : Identify soundness and/or potential faws in proposed protocols

Detailed Assessment Description

Details are on the course website: https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3331

Assignment submission Turnitin type

This is not a Turnitin assignment

Programming Assignment

Assessment Overview

Students will be asked to implement a moderately complex component of a network architecture, in C, Java or Python.

The assignment will be partly auto-marked. The submissions will be reviewed by tutors, who will provide feedback.

Course Learning Outcomes

  CLO2 : Identify soundness and/or potential faws in proposed protocols

  CLO3 : Design networked applications and protocols, and implement them in C, Java or

Python

  CLO4 : Analyse and evaluate the performance of computer networks

Detailed Assessment Description

Details are on the course website: https://www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3331

Assignment submission Turnitin type

This is not a Turnitin assignment

Final Exam

Assessment Overview

Students will undertake a 2-hour, open-book, online digital assessment platform-based exam covering all topics in the course.

Course Learning Outcomes

  CLO1 : Describe the current architecture of the Internet and the entities involved in its operations