Reviewing "Computer Networking" by Kurose and Ross
"Computer Networking", written by James F. Kurose and Keith W. Ross. 9front community proposed that I would read this book.
This book is available online for reading. I read it from online, just like the writers appear to have intended it.
I think that the content here doesn't go very deep into details on any specific subject it covers, but it succeeds in introducing the pieces that a computer network consists from. I would propose this book to be basic education for anybody.
Some of the educational value in the book has been replaced by historical by now though. The publishing online was a new thing when it came out. Today, publishing content on a website is not nearly as often done as it should be, but it's not a new thing anymore.
Many of the links in the book have rot away. The content they used to refer to is no longer online. Hosts in their respective domains are no longer there and the servers serving these links are no longer out there waiting for you to say 'hello' to them.
Basics mentioned in appear to still hold, but some of the content is outdated. The hardware has went forward. For example you no longer find hubs and bridges anywhere because they've been replaced by ethernet switches. On the other hand the protocols seem to still be relevant. Even those that sound obscure to me such as the RTP and RSVP seem to have some modern relevance.
Update: I was told that even the discussion about hubs and bridges still may matter because their behavior still exists in practice.
The "Top down" approach of the book is quite tiresome to start with and if you don't take it in multiple reading sessions you'll be really tired when you get to the later chapters that are more interesting. Despite this the approach still seems to make sense somewhat because below the link layer it's not clear what "the bottom" should be and what will it be in the future?
A naive person may associate networking to ethernet cables for instance. After all when you unplug that cable out of a computer you lose access to Internet. But this is not a valid bottom because you can also run a link through a HDMI or USB cable. Although a very lot hasn't changed in certain perspective, there has still been the potential of change. Makes no stable bottom for "Bottom up" approach of writing a textbook.