Schaum's Outline of Computer Networking

An embarrassment to the fine Schaum's outline series

I was very disappointed in both the layout and content of this Schaum's outline. Unlike most other Schaum's outlines that are well-written by authors who appear to know their subject matter, this one seems to be written by someone who does not understand what a student is looking for in an outline on computer networking and doesn't seem to know the subject matter that well either.

For example, the first chapter, entitled "Data Communications", launches into a discussion of communication theory including wave division multiplexing, time division multiplexing, bandwidths for various applications, and modulation techniques. This is going to be very confusing to the average computer science student who has probably picked up this book to learn about the architecture of computer networks and instead begins his or her studies by reading a poorly written chapter on senior-level electrical engineering communication theory topics. To top it all off, the illustrations don't even make sense. For example, on page 5 there is a figure labeled "Typical Wave Division Multiplexing System". This figure consists of nothing more than 4 computers and two multiplexing devices with no connections shown. I'm sure if I was told to install a multiplexing system and this is what I gave the client, I would surely either be fired or promoted to management. The entire book is like this.

Rather than take the typical approach and explain network architectures in the context of the seven layer OSI model or some derivative thereof, the author just launches into discussions of miscellaneous topics without tying them all together in some kind of structure. For example, the chapter on multiple access is just plain baffling. The author talks about the different applications that need multiple access, and never bothers to define the term. Then the author discusses the three constraints of multiple access implementations, one of which he just labels as variable "a" without every properly defining what "a" really means, just how to calculate it. All calculations and examples shown are very elementary and poorly explained. There is a very sparse use of figures also. After reading through the outline, I can only figure that this lack of detailed diagrams and rigorous exercises is due to the author's lack of knowledge on the subject and thus his inability to produce them.

I would say that this Schaum's outline is a complete waste of time. Don't bother yourself with it even if someone gives it to you for free - you'll only end up more confused. It's not that the subject matter is just poorly presented, it is often wrongly presented. If you are taking a class on computer networking, more than likely you have been assigned Tannenbaum's "Computer Networks". If so, it is a very good book, if not you might want to bite the bullet and consider buying this rather expensive but complete and essential book. Tannenbaum can be a bit theoretical, though. So you might also want to also purchase "Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach Featuring the Internet" by James Kurose. That book is more applied than Tannenbaum's and has many network programming labs in the Java programming language to help hammer home certain concepts.