Tcp/IP Illustrated, Volume 2: The Implementation

I bought this book shortly after finishing Volume 1. With volume 1, I found myself staying up late to read more, but volume 2 gets tiring after a while... it's literally a detailed analysis of every single line of networking code in the BSD 4.3 kernel. Although it's well worth the effort, I found myself reading no more than about 10 pages at a time (constantly flipping back, sometimes almost all the way to the beginning, to re-read something I hadn't quite absorbed the first time).Difficulty aside, this book alone will honestly make you a TCP/IP guru - now that I've read volumes 1 and 2, the networking administrators where I work come to me with questions about issues they can't resolve. I'm literally comfortable saying that there's nothing I don't know about TCP/IP, and that's not a statement I'd make lightly (feel free to test me). But more than that, I learned a *lot* about writing good, solid code... in learning the networking stack as a whole, I was able to understand some higher-level software engineering concepts that had previously eluded me.All in all, volume 1 is The Hobbit, and volume 2 is the Lord of the Rings - an oddysey not to be undertaken lightly, but from which you will emerge stronger and more powerful than ever before.

I was always fascinated by the way computers were connected over the networks and communicated. Being a software programmer, I was looking for a book which could explain how the internet protocols work. TCP/IP Illustrated gave me an excellent and in-depth details of how TCP/IP is implemented with a unique line by line explanation of source code and clear diagrams. The book is an absolute must on every network programmer's book shelf and for anyone like me interested in getting closer look at the way TCP/IP functions.

This book requires a strong knowledge of TCP/IP in order to get the most from it. Once you have that, I recommend that you read this book in order to get a firm understanding of how TCP/IP actually WORKS. Be advised, though...this text is a borderline reference book. Stevens (as you probably know) has a dry writing style, so be sure to fill up on your favorite caffinated drink before digging in ;)

If you want to know the internal mechanisms used to build an IP stack, and how the mechanisms are implemented, this is the book to refer to. The level of detail is very impressive. Although Vol.1 can be read as a text book, Vol.2 is really a reference book with a large quantity of code. It is very easy to read and well indexed (very important for a book of this nature). Simply put, it's one of the best TCP/IP implementation books I've encountered yet.

Again Stevens is on the real work in this book. My comment is simple; buy this book if you really like to be a IP guru.. If you startas a novice I advise you to buy the first volume of this book as well..