Chapter 1

Welcome to Networking

IN THIS CHAPTER

check Getting a handle on networks

check Considering why networking is useful (and is everywhere)

check Telling the difference between servers and clients

check Assessing how networks change computing life

check Examining network topology

check Identifying (and offering sympathy to) the network administrator

Computer networks get a bad rap in the movies. In the 1980s, the Terminator movies featured Skynet, a computer network that becomes self-aware (a computer network of the future), takes over the planet, builds deadly terminator robots, and sends them back through time to kill everyone unfortunate enough to have the name Sarah Connor. In the Matrix movies, a vast and powerful computer network enslaves humans and keeps them trapped in a simulation of the real world. And in the 2015 blockbuster Spectre, James Bond goes rogue (again) to prevent the Evil Genius Ernst Blofeld ...

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