If you really want to understand how the Internet and other computer networks operate, start with Computer Networks and Internets, Third Edition. Douglas E. Comer, who helped build the Internet, presents an up-to-the-minute tour of the Internet and internetworking, from low-level data transmission wiring all the way up to Web services and Internet application software. The new edition contains extensive coverage of network programming, plus authoritative introductions to many new Internet protocols and technologies, from CIDR addressing to Network Address Translation (NAT). Comer explains every networking layer, showing how facilities and services provided by one layer are used and extended in the next. Discover how networking hardware utilizes carrier signals, modulation and encoding; why internets use packet switching; how LANs, local loops, WANs, public and private networks work; and how protocols like TCP support internetworking. Understand the client/server model at the heart of most network applications, and master key Internet technologies such as CGI, DNS, E-mail, ADSL, and cable modems. This new edition includes a complete new chapter on static and automatic Internet routing, introducing key concepts such as Autonomous Systems and hop metrics; as well as detailed coverage of label switching and virtual circuits.