11/27/2014Homework 4 posted
Homework 4 has been posted. Due by Dec 4 1:30PM at GHC 9215, Kathy's office. See the assignments page for more details
11/7/2014Project 3 Released
Project 3 has been released; checkpoint 1 is due by Nov 22. See the assignments page for more details.
11/4/2014Homework 3 posted
Homework 3 has been posted. Due by Nov 13 2:00PM in class. See the assignments page for more details

Overview

15-441 (also available as 15-641) is an introductory course in computer networks. The emphasis will be on the basic performance and engineering tradeoffs in the design and implementation of computer networks. To make the issues more concrete, the class includes several multi-week projects requiring significant design and implementation.

The goal is for students to learn not only what computer networks are and how they work today, but also why they are designed the way they are and how they are likely to evolve in the future. We will draw examples primarily from the Internet. Topics to be covered include: congestion/flow/error control, routing, addressing, naming, multi-casting, switching, internetworking, and network security. Evaluation is based on homework assignments, the projects, one mid-term exam and one final.

Prerequisites

Because this course has a big project component, you must be proficient in C programming on UNIX systems. It is required that you have taken 15-213 and gotten a "C-" or higher since many of the programming skills you will need are taught in that course.

Course Staff

Instructors

NameEmailOfficeOffice Hours
Peter Steenkiste GHC 9107 Mon 1:00pm-2:00pm

Teaching Assistants

NameEmailOfficeOffice Hours
Yuchen Wu GHC 7119 Thu 10:30am - 11:30am
Junchen Jiang GHC 9227 Tue 3:30pm - 4:30pm
Titouan Rigoudy GHC 5th floor creative commons Wed 1:30 to 2:30pm

Course Secretary

NameEmailOffice
Kathy McNiff GHC 9215

Course Policies

Collaboration

Students are encouraged to talk to each other, to the TAs, to the instructors, or to anyone else about any of the assignments. Any assistance, though, must be limited to discussion of the problem and sketching general approaches to a solution. Each student must write out his or her own solutions to the homework.

The project handouts have more detailed information about collaboration when working on the projects, but, basically, each programming project group must write their own code and documentation for the programming projects done as a group.

Consulting another student's or group's solution is prohibited and submitted solutions may not be copied from any source. You may not supply work that you complete during 15-441 to other students in future instances of this course (just as you may not use work completed by students who've taken the course previously). If you have any question about whether some activity would constitute cheating, please feel free to ask the instructors.

Academic Integrity

The Carnegie Mellon University Policy on Integrity applies. We will strictly follow university policy on reporting cases of cheating.

Late Policy

Take project and homework deadlines seriously. Our experience is that students often seriously underestimate the effort involved in programming assignments and projects. If we give you 4 weeks to complete an assignment, there is typically a reason. In the interest of fairness, we have adopted the following late policy:

Re-Grading

If you think we made a mistake in grading, please return the assignment with a note explaining your concern to the course secretary no later than two weeks after the day the assignment was returned. We will have the question re-graded by the person responsible for grading that question.

Partner Problems

Please try to avoid having partner problems. Seriously! Share your hopes before they turn into concerns, your concerns before they are problems, and your problems before they inflate into crises.

In order for the course staff to help you and your partner work through issues, or for us to provide an appropriate response to serious partner problems, you must contact us well before the relevant due date! A special case to avoid is coming to us a day or two before a major deadline to tell us that your partner has been ill (etc.) for multiple weeks. We, and thus you, have many more options if you inform us while a problem is developing, instead of after the fact.

Resources


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