ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces computer networks. Designing, implementing, and manufacturing computer networks and related devices are very complex activities. Protocols of applications commonly used in computer networks are defined in the application layer. Personal area networks are small home computer networks. They generally connect the home computers to share other devices, such as printers, stereo equipment, etc. One can see that the modeling of a network for multicast transmission is similar to the unicast case, with the difference that the flow of information will be received by multiple destinations. The chapter also introduces graph theory to represent and model computer networks as graphs and, consequently, be able to apply different graph algorithms to computer networks. Transmission of information between a transmitter and all receivers in a computer network is a broadcast transmission. A transmission between a single transmitter and a single receiver is a unicast transmission.
