A Quick Look at TCP/IP Networking

The practice of describing protocol systems in terms of their layers is widespread and nearly universal. The layering system does provide insights into the protocol system, and it's impossible to describe TCP/IP without first introducing its layered architecture. However, focusing solely on protocol layers also creates some imitations.

First, talking about protocol layers rather than protocols introduces additional abstraction to a subject that is already excruciatingly abstract. Second, itemizing the various protocols as subheads within the greater topic of a protocol layer can give the false impression that all protocols are of equal importance. In fact, though every protocol has a role to play, most of the ...

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