This
is the reading list for CSCI E45a. Do not be put off by the amount of material.
The first thing to do is to read the first required reading for Module 01 and
from it understand why we feel that it is not only OK but important to assign
so much reading. The real world has far more reading that could be done when
researching any particular topic than can reasonably be done so selective
reading and remembering where a topic was discussed is more important than
memorizing the details in a particular document.
This reading list and the weekly NYCU include many readings from online
sources, some of which limit readers to a certain number of free articles per
day, week, or month. To overcome that obstacle:
Module
Reading: 1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
10 11 12
13 14 15
16
Module 01 - Introduction
Required Reading
How
the mind works in the age of Google and why giving you so much reading is OK
Why
some technologies succeed and some do not
Internet
philosophy, the last two from a time when people thought the Internet was a
different place
One
view on 'does anyone control the Internet?'
Looking
back to understand the present - a way to look at the impact of the Internet
A
view of the current Cyberworld
Maybe
the shape of things to come, legally
Optional Reading
Module 02 - Digital Technologies and
Computing Devices
Required Reading
Moore’s
Law from the original document:
Exploring
some of important concepts, terms:
Interesting
predictions from one of the important figures of computing:
A
view of what personal computing might mean before it actually happened
And
we are still pushing the limits of physics to keep Moore’s Law alive, including
dinner-plate sized chips for computing hungry AI:
Optional Reading
Module 03 - Internet History and
Concepts
Required Reading
The
paper that introduced the concept of packet-switched networking (even if he did
not call it a “packet”).
An
introduction to the work of Louis Pouzin, the
developer of the concept of the datagram, the most important single feature of
Internet protocol. The author has strong views, not all of which are
universally shared, about the technology underpinning the Internet and the
correctness of the path chosen. See, especially, Mike O’Dell’s summary of
the importance of datagrams - starting on page xiv.
Insider’s
views on the underpinnings of what got us the Internet
A
restating of some of the design principles for a general audience and some
pushback
A
history of the Internet written by those who where
there and who made it happen
Economic
theory but it applies to TCP
An
opinion piece from one of the authors of the end to end
principle
On
the ongoing disagreement between the telephone companies and Internet
engineers:
Scott’s
reviews of how we got to today’s Internet:
Optional Reading
Oral
history interviews from the Charles Babbage Institute Center for History of
Information Technology, University of Minnesota:
Oral history interviews by James L. Pelkey at the Computer
History Museum:
Module 04 - Internet Protocol
Required Reading
The
Internet Protocol specifications
Private
IPv4 Addresses
UDP
specifications
TCP
specifications and articles on congestion control
QUIC
Optional Reading
Module 05 - Software - Simple
Software
Required Reading
Learning
about programming
Learning
about programming languages
Hypercard was a major departure from how
people thought of programming until then.
Programming with Hypercard was as much about
writing code as it was about visually developing the interface. And its language HyperTalk
tried to bring programming as close as it could to natural language, making as
easy as possible for non-programmers to build programs. Many of these concepts live on in modern
visual programming environments (e.g., native mobile applications development)
Lean
thinking and its manifestation in the software development world: Agile
One
example of an all-too-common software bug (and means of compromise), and a
discussion of the seminal paper “trusting trust” (see optional reading).
Ethics
in the technology space (and particularly in software development) is becoming
more and more important and thus is more in the news these days.
Optional Reading
Module 06 - Network Technologies
Required Reading
A
milestone in the history of Ethernet, the most ubiquitous wired networking
technology
Descriptions
of some of the other common networking technologies
Optional Reading
Module 07 - Distributed Software
Required Reading
Remote
Procedure Calls is the underlying technology for distributed computing
An
example of what you have to go through to design a complex distributed system
Blockchain
is being touted as a unique, general purpose technology of the future... maybe
it’s not.
Optional Reading
Module 08 - Middleware
Required Reading
Technical
specifications of, and worries about middleboxes
Technical
specifications of middleware
Optional Reading
Module 09 - Designing and Building
the Infrastructure
Required Reading
Designing
and building enterprise networks and data centers:
Module 10 - The Cloud
Required Reading
A
generic model for looking at cloud services
Security
and privacy considerations in public cloud services
One
vendor’s views and offerings for cloud services
Module 11 - Routing
Required Reading
Routing
issues
Technical
descriptions of routing protocols
A
sample ISP peering policy
Optional Reading
Module 12 - Security Fundamentals
Required Reading
Securing
the Internet
A
market in badness
The
human in the loop
An
approach to understanding risk
An
old but valuable guide
What
the feds say (and sometimes do)
An
examination of one of the more devastating cyber attacks
Fed
plans – (skim to understand the topics/goals)
Optional Reading
Module 12b - Advanced Security Tools
Optional Reading
Module 13 - Encryption
Required Reading
Why
good encryption is good, sayeth the IETF
When
good enough security is OK
Technology
standards for security
Why
security is hard
A
look at some bad history
An
approach to thinking about the conflict between encryption and law enforcement
An
attack method
Optional Reading
Module 14 - Managing the
Infrastructure
Required Reading
Module 15 - Internet Regulation and
Governance
Required Reading
International
approaches
Key
U.S. legal or regulatory decisions
One
columnist’s opinion
Optional Reading
Module 16 - Technical Standards
Required Reading