What do you think?
Rate this book
Data And Computer Communications
Data and Computer Communications, Eighth Edition offers a clear, comprehensive, and unified view of the entire fields of data communications, networking, and protocols. William Stallings organizes this massive subject into small, comprehensible elements, building a complete survey of the state-of-the-art, one piece at a time. Stallings has substantially revised this international best-seller to reflect today's latest innovations, from WiFi and 10 Gbps Ethernet to advanced congestion control and IP performance metrics.
878 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1985
51 people are currently reading
900 people want to read
About the author
William Stallings
203 books40 followersWilliam Stallings is an American author. He has written computer science textbooks on operating systems, computer networks, computer organization, and cryptography.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
October 12, 2018
When Computers Talk
9 October 2018
I’m not really all that sure if I’m supposed to be reviewing text books on Goodreads, but then again since it is a boom (albeit an ebook, but apparently they still count) then I guess it is okay. The other thing is that I am not sure if I am supposed to read a text book from cover to cover. Okay, I didn’t exactly do that, though I have basically read the whole thing, namely because chapters were assigned as reading material throughout the semester, and once the teaching part of the class finished, I decided to read the three extra chapters that hadn’t been assigned. Then again, I suspect that I may have been the only person in my class to have actually read the book, especially all of it.
Yeah, this book is pretty technical – we were warned about that at the beginning of the class. In fact, it was suggested that we read the chapters after the lecture, which me, being the good student that I try to be, did so (though once again I suspect that I am the only person who did so). Well, to basically describe this book I would say that it pretty much covers anything an everything that deals with the way computers talk to each other, and the thing is that this book is just an overview – there is so much that this book doesn’t cover that it is mind boggling. Then again, since we had two written assignments to hand up over the semester, it became pretty clear that you simply could not rely solely upon this book to be able to successfully complete them (though I suspect that a number of students did attempt that).
The interesting thing is that after finishing this course, and reading this book, though I won’t say that I was able to fully digest everything it is, is that all these things the computer does is not longer magic. In fact, I now have a lot more understanding as to how we are able to play our favourite Iron Maiden song off of the hard drive, and how all of those saucy pictures that we collect are converted into electrical pulses. Okay, the whole image digitising part of the course was an addendum at the end, but sound was a core component, particularly since data communication basically started off as converting sound into electrical waves, and then transferring them over long distances.
Still, I do wonder whether it is all that necessary these days to actually purchase the text books. Honestly, I still feel much more comfortable with them than without them, though that may have a lot to do with also having a law degree – if you didn’t purchase the text books then you were basically stuffed. Then again, Law textbooks are nothing short of ridiculous. However sometimes it feels as if pretty much everything that you need for a computer science degree is basically on the internet. Then again, this semester I did discover that simply going to www.howdoesitwork.com doesn’t quite cut it with the markers as being a legitimate source for your assignment. The text book helps, but unfortunately, it isn’t going to give your all the answers.
Anyway, my operating system finally gave up the ghost, so I guess I better go back to reinstalling it, and getting the computer to pretty much do everything that it did before the reinstall, which honestly is the most painful part of a reinstall. Oh, well, everything except for the thing that made me want to go and reinstall it, namely because then I would have completely wasted my time.
9 October 2018
I’m not really all that sure if I’m supposed to be reviewing text books on Goodreads, but then again since it is a boom (albeit an ebook, but apparently they still count) then I guess it is okay. The other thing is that I am not sure if I am supposed to read a text book from cover to cover. Okay, I didn’t exactly do that, though I have basically read the whole thing, namely because chapters were assigned as reading material throughout the semester, and once the teaching part of the class finished, I decided to read the three extra chapters that hadn’t been assigned. Then again, I suspect that I may have been the only person in my class to have actually read the book, especially all of it.
Yeah, this book is pretty technical – we were warned about that at the beginning of the class. In fact, it was suggested that we read the chapters after the lecture, which me, being the good student that I try to be, did so (though once again I suspect that I am the only person who did so). Well, to basically describe this book I would say that it pretty much covers anything an everything that deals with the way computers talk to each other, and the thing is that this book is just an overview – there is so much that this book doesn’t cover that it is mind boggling. Then again, since we had two written assignments to hand up over the semester, it became pretty clear that you simply could not rely solely upon this book to be able to successfully complete them (though I suspect that a number of students did attempt that).
The interesting thing is that after finishing this course, and reading this book, though I won’t say that I was able to fully digest everything it is, is that all these things the computer does is not longer magic. In fact, I now have a lot more understanding as to how we are able to play our favourite Iron Maiden song off of the hard drive, and how all of those saucy pictures that we collect are converted into electrical pulses. Okay, the whole image digitising part of the course was an addendum at the end, but sound was a core component, particularly since data communication basically started off as converting sound into electrical waves, and then transferring them over long distances.
Still, I do wonder whether it is all that necessary these days to actually purchase the text books. Honestly, I still feel much more comfortable with them than without them, though that may have a lot to do with also having a law degree – if you didn’t purchase the text books then you were basically stuffed. Then again, Law textbooks are nothing short of ridiculous. However sometimes it feels as if pretty much everything that you need for a computer science degree is basically on the internet. Then again, this semester I did discover that simply going to www.howdoesitwork.com doesn’t quite cut it with the markers as being a legitimate source for your assignment. The text book helps, but unfortunately, it isn’t going to give your all the answers.
Anyway, my operating system finally gave up the ghost, so I guess I better go back to reinstalling it, and getting the computer to pretty much do everything that it did before the reinstall, which honestly is the most painful part of a reinstall. Oh, well, everything except for the thing that made me want to go and reinstall it, namely because then I would have completely wasted my time.
July 5, 2012
Great book as a starting point for students who are in information technology discipline. It covers such a vast range of topics. The chapters that I learned mainly focused on wire network and wireless network. I find the concepts are very well explained. It is a book for beginners, it does not have lots of details for each of the topics.
Read
June 26, 2020thank you for this book
November 25, 2017
This book is very pragmatic, I find it very good at illustrating the concepts behind telecommunications, starting from the physical layer upwards. All the math in this book is mapped to a practical purpose, making it easy to comprehend. This book is fantastic.
However, this book might be too high level if you work on the signal processing side of things.
However, this book might be too high level if you work on the signal processing side of things.
October 30, 2019
I just want to study this book because it is the part of my syllabus.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 19, 2025
A typical approach only explains what something is and how to do it, without addressing why it exists. This kind of thinking remains stuck at the level of the thing itself, failing to understand its origins and even less likely to consider other ways to achieve a farther goal. How can innovation be possible under such circumstances?
October 22, 2009
A book referenced for my university course. The book is nicely divided into logical and organised sections. The explanations are aided by very well drawn diagrams. It's a pretty informative book on data communications and networking. There was a tad too much mathematics for me though.
Read
March 7, 2010-data comunication and computer net work
-lan tecnology
-wan tecnology
-lan tecnology
-wan tecnology
January 9, 2014
Pembahasan yang detail, lengkap, dan sedikit membingungkan
Read
November 11, 2014book is amazing
January 5, 2016
This is a test review.
Want to read
January 18, 2016best book ever
August 1, 2016
Perfect, helped me so much! (beginner)
December 21, 2019
I want this book for my lesson.
January 27, 2016
Nice.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews