Prof: Leong Way Kai, Jithin Vachery

CS2105 provides a good introduction to networking using the TCP/IP model. The module covers the top 4 layers of the model, leaving out the physical layer which I felt was a bit unfortunate as topics in signal processing or information theory were not covered. There was also a bit of overlap with CS2107 as the last 2 lectures covered network security.

The profs were both engaging and taught the module well, and are both clearly passionate about the topic. The lectures had good analogies connecting networking concepts to real world scenarios that helped with understanding the concepts better. It was also really cool learning about how Prof Jithin set up his own LAN for his hostel in his student years.

There are 3 assignments for this module, each assignment asks students to implement a protocol for a network layer, which were the Application, Transport, and Link layers respectively. Each assignment can be done in Python3, C/C++ (gcc 13.3.0), or Java 21. I did the first assignment in C for fun, and the rest in python to save time. The first assignment was to implement a small HTTP like protocol, the second assignment was to implement a TCP like protocol, while the last one was to implement a time division and token passing link layer protocol.

The midterm had a new format this semester, where every question was multiple response, and some questions could have no correct answers or all answers correct. This made it really confusing, and there were some really vague questions that did not help. Fortunately the format of the finals did not change, with some mcqs, mrqs, and saqs. The wording of the finals felt better than the midterm and I had no qualms about it.

Assessment	Marks	LQ	Med	UQ
Tutorial Attendance	5/5	5	5	5
Assignments	20/20	20	20	20
Midterm	20.56/25	13.33	15	16.67
Finals	37.86/50	25	30	34.29
Total	83.41/100	-	-	-

Excepted grade: A/A+
Final grade: A