CS43 : Computer Networks — Fall 2024

Most announcements will be on Edstem.

Class: Tuesday/Thursday 11:20 - 12:35PM, Science Center 181

Professor: Vasanta Chaganti

Edstem: Q&A Forum

GitHub: Swarthmore GitHub Enterprise

iClickers: Clicker Registration

Grades: Grades will be posted on Edstem

Textbook: Accessible via TAP+ on Moodle

Office hours:

Weekly Lab Sessions: SCI 240

Welcome to CS43, Computer Networks! This course will introduce fundamental ideas in computer networking. The structure of this course may be different from many other CS courses at Swarthmore. We will be using a teaching model called Peer Instruction, which places a strong emphasis on classroom discussion and student interaction.

The course is composed of the following:

All assessment submissions should follow the Swarthmore Academic Integrity guidelines.

iClickers: This course will use iClickers to facilitate feedback and discussion during class. For many upper level courses including CS43, clicker will commonly be used in class. Clickers may be purchased at the college bookstore or online. Please register your device as soon as you get it. Registering allows me to give you credit for quizzes and class participation. We will begin using clickers for credit at the start of week 2!

Textbook: Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach by Kurose and Ross. ISBN-13: 978-9356061316 We will be using the Eigth Edition. The electronic version of the textbook is available via the course Moodle page.

By the end of the course, we hope that you will have developed the skills to:

Links that are related to the course may be posted here. If you have suggestions for links, let me know.

This is a tentative schedule; it may change as we go. You should read the assigned sections before class to prepare for class discussion points. All readings refer to the Kurose and Ross textbook unless otherwise indicated (e.g., there’s a link to some other source).

Grades will be weighted as follows:

The only effective way to learn the material and consistently do well in the labs is to get into the regular habit of: Discussing the top-down design of your code with your lab partner, before you start coding. Writing descriptive function comments as you go along. ** Incrementally coding and testing with GDB and Valgrind.

+ This process, will make you a sought after computer scientist once you graduate.

Academic honesty is required in all your work. Under no circumstances may you hand in work done with (or by) someone else under your own name. Your code should never be shared with anyone; you may not examine or use code belonging to someone else, nor may you let anyone else look at or make a copy of your code. This includes, but is not limited to, obtaining solutions from students who previously took the course or code that can be found online. You may not share solutions after the due date of the assignment or make them publicly available anywhere (e.g. public GitHub repository).

Discussing ideas and approaches to problems with others on a general level is fine (in fact, we encourage you to discuss general strategies with each other), but you should never read anyone else’s code or let anyone else read your code. All code and written homeworks you submit must be your own with the following permissible exceptions: code distributed in class, code found in the course text book, and code worked on with an assigned partner. In these cases, you should always include detailed comments that indicates on which parts of the assignment you received help, and what your sources were.

Use of or consultation with generative AI (e.g., chatGPT or GitHub CoPilot or other variants) is considered to be unauthorized collaboration with another source and is a violation of our academic integrity policy.

Failure to abide by these rules constitutes academic dishonesty and will lead to a hearing of the College Judiciary Committee. According to the Faculty Handbook:

The spirit of this policy applies to all course work, including code, homework solutions (e.g., proofs, analysis, written reports), and exams. Please contact me if you have any questions about what is permissible in this course.

Students must strictly adhere to the following policy, which applies to all exams taken in a Computer Science course at Swarthmore:

Exam takers must place all non-essential items at the front of the room (or other designated area). Unless otherwise permitted, students may not have any electronic devices or course materials in their possession during the entirety of the exam. This includes cell phones, tablets, laptops, smart watches, course notes, articles and books, among others. These items should be placed at the front of the room near the proctor. If you need to leave the room during the exam, you must obtain permission from an instructor first. Any non-permitted discussion or aide in regards to exam material will result in immediate forfeiture of the exam and a report to the College Judiciary Committee. Please discuss any concerns or accommodations with your instructor prior to starting the exam.

If you believe you need accommodations for a disability or a chronic medical condition, please visit the Student Disability Services website for details about the accommodations process. Since accommodations require early planning and are not retroactive, contact Student Disability Services as soon as possible. You are also welcome to contact me, Vasanta, privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged, in advance, through Student Disability Services.

To receive an accommodation for a course activity you must have an official Accommodations Letter and you need to meet with me to work out the details of your accommodation at least two weeks prior to any activity requiring accommodations.

You are also welcome to contact me, privately to discuss your academic needs. However, all disability-related accommodations must be arranged, in advance, through Student Disability Services