About this Course

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What makes WiFi faster at home than at a coffee shop? How does Google order its search results from the trillions of webpages on the Internet? Why does Verizon charge $15 for every GB of data we use? Is it really true that we are connected in six social steps or less?
These are just a few of the many intriguing questions we can ask about the social and technical networks that form integral parts of our daily lives. This course is about exploring the answers, using a language that anyone can understand. We will focus on fundamental principles like “sharing is hard”, “crowds are wise”, and “network of networks” that have guided the design and sustainability of today’s networks, and summarize the theories behind everything from the social connections we make on platforms like Facebook to the technology upon which these websites run.

Unlike other networking courses, the mathematics included here are no more complicated than adding and multiplying numbers. While mathematical details are necessary to fully specify the algorithms and systems we investigate, they are not required to understand the main ideas. We use illustrations, analogies, and anecdotes about networks as pedagogical tools in lieu of detailed equations.

All the features of this course are available for free.  It does not offer a certificate upon completion.

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Beginner Level

Approx. 24 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Beginner Level

Approx. 24 hours to complete

English

Subtitles: English

Instructors

Instructor rating

4.77/5 (10 Ratings)

Christopher Brinton

Lecturer

Electrical Engineering

35,087 Learners

2 Courses

Mung Chiang

Professor

Electrical Engineering

35,087 Learners

2 Courses

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating94%(1,229 ratings)

Week

1

Week 1

1 hour to complete

Introduction

An introduction to what this course is about: the fundamentals behind social and technical networks.

1 hour to complete

5 videos (Total 39 min), 3 readings

3 hours to complete

Power Control in Cellular Networks

How is it possible that we can all communicate effectively without disrupting each other's calls, messages, or Internet usage? In this lesson, we will take a look at some of the methods that have been developed for letting us "share" the air over which our phones communicate.

3 hours to complete

21 videos (Total 125 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

Week

2

Week 2

2 hours to complete

Random Access in Wifi Networks

In this lesson, we will investigate WiFi, another type of wireless network. Rather than having stringent power control algorithms as we saw for cellular, WiFi relies on "random access" methods to manage interference among users in the same location.

2 hours to complete

15 videos (Total 98 min), 1 reading

2 hours to complete

PageRank by Google

In this lesson, we will take a look at PageRank, Google's famous algorithm for ordering the results on its search page. PageRank is a prime example of how coming up with the right "ranking" of a set of items is a difficult yet important question in networking.

2 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 67 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

Week

3

Week 3

1 hour to complete

Product Rating on Amazon

The decision of whether or not to purchase something online is often driven by the ratings that previous customers have left for it. In this lesson, we will take a look at Amazon's review system, and the see how "crowds are wise" is another important networking principle.

1 hour to complete

11 videos (Total 69 min), 1 reading

2 hours to complete

Movie Recommendation on Netflix

One of the perks of having a Netflix subscription is getting recommendations of movies to watch. Behind the scenes, Netflix uses powerful algorithms to determine which will be suggested to each person specifically. In this lesson, we will take a look at the main ideas behind these algorithms.

2 hours to complete

18 videos (Total 111 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

18 videos

Netflix Timeline5m

Video Streaming5m

Recommendation is Everywhere3m

Netflix Recommendation System5m

Netflix Prize: Logistics7m

Netflix Prize: The Competition4m

Our Example3m

Raw Average7m

User-movie Interactions7m

Baseline Predictor6m

Similarity4m

Cosine Similarity9m

Similarity Values10m

Leveraging Similarity8m

Neighborhood Predictor4m

Performance of Different Methods3m

Summary3m

Copy of Cosine Similarity9m

1 reading

Power of Networks

1 practice exercise

Problem Set #330m

Week

4

Week 4

2 hours to complete

Midterm

2 hours to complete

Week

5

Week 5

1 hour to complete

Viral Videos on YouTube

What does it take for a video to become "viral" on YouTube? In this lesson, we will take a look at some of the key factors and models that have been used to explain this phenomenon. At the core is the notion of information cascade in a network, which is the counterpart to the wisdom of crowds.

1 hour to complete

12 videos (Total 77 min), 1 reading

2 hours to complete

Influencing People in Social Networks

In this lesson, we will continue with our theme of influence, now paying more attention to people's social networks. We will discuss different ways of measuring importance and a popular model for influence spread in social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

2 hours to complete

13 videos (Total 89 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

Week

6

Week 6

1 hour to complete

Pricing Data

Data makes up a significant part of our cell phone bills. How do cellular providers set these price points? In this lesson, we will see how so-called usage-based pricing schemes can send better signals than flat- rate, “buffet” schemes, leading to better sharing of the network.

1 hour to complete

11 videos (Total 76 min), 1 reading

2 hours to complete

Routing Traffic through the Internet

It is hard to overstate the impact that the Internet has had on society. In this lesson, we will overview the fundamental concepts behind the way the Internet is designed. We will also take a look at routing, which is the process of determining how packets of information are transported.

2 hours to complete

22 videos (Total 83 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

22 videos

Sharing revisited4m

ARPANET2m

NSFNET3m

The "Internet"2m

Circuit Switching vs. Packet Switching2m

Statistical Multiplexing & Resource Pooling4m

Packet vs. Circuit Switching Summary2m

Distributed Hierarchy4m

Routing Traffic3m

IP Address4m

Prefix & Host Identifier4m

DHCP & NAT5m

Routing Protocols1m

Forwarding3m

Shortest Path Problem5m

Bellman-Ford Example2m

Cost Updates4m

Example: Two Hops5m

Example: Three Hops4m

Example: Summary3m

RIP and Message Passing4m

Summary2m

1 reading

Power of Networks

1 practice exercise

Problem Set #530m

Week

7

Week 7

1 hour to complete

Controlling Congestion in the Internet

The Internet has many important tasks to manage, like routing packets (discussed in the last module) and controlling congestion. This workload is modularized into different functional layers, each responsible for performing a different set of functions, as we will see in this lesson. We will also look at the principles of congestion control, managed at the transport layer.

1 hour to complete

18 videos (Total 77 min), 1 reading

18 videos

Divide And Conquer2m

Layered Protocol Stack4m

Transport & Network Layers4m

Headers4m

Processing Layers2m

Controlling Congestion4m

Traffic Jam & Bucket Analogy3m

End Hosts3m

Sliding Window2m

Cautious Growth of Window Size6m

Inferring Congestion5m

Congestion Control Versions2m

Loss-Based Congestion Inference5m

Delay-Based Congestion Inference: Part I6m

Delay-Based Congestion Inference: Part II5m

Delay-Based Congestion Inference: Part III4m

Distributed Congestion Control5m

Summary3m

1 reading

Power of Networks

2 hours to complete

It's a Small World

Six degrees of separation is a widely told story in popular science. How can it still be a "small world" with the enormity of the Internet today? It depends on how the social networks are structured, and on how we search for short paths, as we will see in this lesson.

2 hours to complete

17 videos (Total 99 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

17 videos

Introduction2m

Milgram's Experiment8m

"Small world" in Culture5m

Structural vs. Algorithmic Small Worlds3m

Triad Closures and Homophily6m

Average Shortest Path7m

Random Graphs5m

Clustering Coefficient: Part A8m

Clustering Coefficient: Part B4m

Regular Graph: Part A8m

Regular Graph: Part B5m

Watts-Strogatz Model: Part A3m

Watts-Strogatz Model: Part B4m

Discovering Short Paths6m

Watts-Dodds-Newman Model: Part A5m

Watts-Dodds-Newman Model: Part B8m

Summary5m

1 reading

Power of Networks

1 practice exercise

Problem Set #630m

Week

8

Week 8

2 hours to complete

Final Exam

The final covers the last six lessons in the course (those after the midterm). Like the midterm, the questions are all multiple choice, and tend to be easier than the homework questions but harder than the in-video quizzes.

2 hours to complete

Reviews

4.4

21 reviews

5 stars
57.97%
4 stars
24.63%
3 stars
13.04%
2 stars
2.89%
1 star
1.44%

TOP REVIEWS FROM NETWORKS ILLUSTRATED: PRINCIPLES WITHOUT CALCULUS

by PPJul 3, 2019

Using themes and analogies, this course successfully give a holistic view. You lose a bit on mathematical precision, but gain on a firmer understanding of the phenomena.

by GGFeb 14, 2017

Very clear explanation. A simple approach that helps to understand most of the concepts reviewed.\n\nThanks.

by CAug 30, 2020

I was really good experience learning.Got to know about new networking knowlegde

View all reviews

Frequently Asked Questions

When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Access to lectures and assignments depends on your type of enrollment. If you take a course in audit mode, you will be able to see most course materials for free. To access graded assignments and to earn a Certificate, you will need to purchase the Certificate experience, during or after your audit. If you don't see the audit option:
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The course may offer 'Full Course, No Certificate' instead. This option lets you see all course materials, submit required assessments, and get a final grade. This also means that you will not be able to purchase a Certificate experience.
Can I earn a certificate in this course?
No. As per Princeton University policy, no certificates, credentials, or reports are awarded in connection with this course.

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Networks Illustrated: Principles without Calculus