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?
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Networks Illustrated: Principles without Calculus
Princeton UniversityAbout this Course
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Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. It is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution.
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Introduction
An introduction to what this course is about: the fundamentals behind social and technical networks.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Midterm
Reviews
TOP REVIEWS FROM NETWORKS ILLUSTRATED: PRINCIPLES WITHOUT CALCULUS
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.
Very clear explanation. A simple approach that helps to understand most of the concepts reviewed.\n\nThanks.
I was really good experience learning.Got to know about new networking knowlegde
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