The Internet Book: Everything You Need to Know About Computer Networking and How the Internet Works

For use as a primary text for courses on using the Internet or as a supplement for computer literacy courses that cover networking or the Internet. Doug Comer's, The Internet Book, Third Edition utilizes a non-technical perspective to explain the technology of how computers communicate, what the Internet is, how the Internet works, and what the Internet can do for people. This book works to fully connect students to the “big picture” by presenting a solid overview of networking and the Internet, rather than burying them with details. Comer assumes no prior background in computer networking or the Internet.

Table of Contents:
 1. The Internet Has Arrived.  2. Getting Started: Hands-On Experience. I. INTRODUCTION TO NETWORKING.  3. Telephones Everywhere.  4. The World Was Once Analog.  5. The Once And Future Digital Network.  6. Basic Communication.  7. The Local Area Network Arrives. II. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE INTERNET.  8. Internet: The Early Years.  9. Two Decades Of Incredible Growth. 10. The Global Internet. 11. A Global Information Infrastructure. III. HOW THE INTERNET WORKS. 12. Packet Switching. 13. Internet: A Network Of Networks. 14. ISPs and Network Connections. 15. IP: Software to Create A Virtual Network. 16. TCP: Software For Reliable Communication. 17. Clients + Servers = Distributed Computing. 18. Names For Computers. 19. Why the Internet Works Well. IV. SERVICES AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET. 20. Electronic Mail. 21. Bulletin Board Service (Network News). 22. Browsing The World Wide Web. 23. World Wide Web Documents (HTML). 24. Advanced Web Technologies (Forms, Frames, Plugins, CGI, Java, JavaScript). 25. Automated Web Search (Search Engines). 26. Audio and Video Communication. 27. Faxes and Files (FTP). 28. Remote Login And Remote Desktops (TELNET). 29. Facilities For Secure Communication. 30. Electronic Commerce And Business. 31. The Global Digital Library. Appendices. Index.

About the Author :
DOUGLAS COMER is a professor at Purdue University where he teaches popular computer networking courses. He also teaches hundreds of professionals and diverse audiences around the world each year about he Internet. He has written a widely acclaimed and extremely popular series of books on networking and the Internet. He was one of the researchers who contributed to the formation of the Internet in the late 1970s and 1980s. He has served on the Internet Architecture Board, the group responsible for guiding development of the Internet, and is a Fellow of the ACM. He wrote this book in response to everyone who has asked him for an explanation of the Internet that is both technically correct and easily understood.