It was through an earlier version [2nd edition], that I got my first detailed look at the internet structure. It is good to see that Comer continues his decades-long best selling text. It is aimed at engineers and programmers who have to understand and use and possibly develop applications that will run atop the internet.
Firstly, as with the earlier editions, there are comprehensive explanations of what the Internet Protocol means. Thence for the User Datagram Protocol and the Transmission Control Protocol. To most internet or web users, these are really meaningless terms. Not to you, after you have gone through this book. So, as a crucial example, you will understand the difference between UDP and TCP. And what the format of a TCP segment contains, like the source and destination ports and sequence numbers. Plus the TCP 3 way handshake protocol. The above has been well established and stable for over 15 years.
But Comer also brings in newer material. Like the Network Address Translation. A nifty kludge that can get around a shortage of IP addresses. Or, it can be used to furnish more privacy for machines inside a private net, that still need to communicate with the wider internet.
Even newer issues include VOIP. Leading into an analysis of the difficult real time problems of audio Quality of Service. The recent rise of Internet Telephony centres around successful resolution of these matters.
Finally, Comer concludes with a synopsis of the next generation of the internet - 128 bit addressing under IPv6. And how, apart from the vastly increased addressing, it promises to enable such features as protocol extensions and more elaborate address hierarchies. However, he prudently refrains from suggesting when IPv6 will be fully rolled out.