Draft:Outline of computer networking

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to computer networking:

A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. Today almost all computers are connected to a computer network, such as the global Internet or an embedded network such as those found in modern cars. Many applications have only limited functionality unless they are connected to a computer network. Early computers had very limited connections to other devices, but perhaps the first example of computer networking occurred in 1940 when George Stibitz connected a terminal at Dartmouth to his Complex Number Calculator at Bell Labs in New York.

What type of thing is computer networking?

Computer networking can be described as all of the following:

• Information theory

Types of computer networks

• Personal area network
• Local area network
• Campus network
• Metropolitan area network
• Wide area network
• Storage area network
• Virtual private network

History of computer networking

History of computer networking

Data transmission

Data transmission

Wired transmission

• Public switched telephone network
  • Modems and dialup
• Dedicated lines — leased lines
• ISDN
• DSL
• Time-division multiplexing(TDM)
• Packet switching
• Frame relay
• PDH
• Ethernet
• RS-232
• RS-485
• Optical fiber transmission
  • Synchronous optical networking(SONET)
  • Fiber distributed data interface

Wireless transmission

Wireless

Extreme Short range

• • ZigBee
• Short range
  • Bluetooth
  • InfraRed(IrDA)
• Medium range
  • WiFi(IEEE 802.11)
  • WiMax(IEEE 802.16)
• Long range
  • Satellite
  • MMDS
  • SMDS
  • Mobile phone data transmission (channel access methods)
    • CDMA
    • CDPD
    • GSM
    • TDMA
  • Paging networks
    • DataTAC
    • Mobitex
    • Motient

See also

• Unsolved problems in computer science