As in the first edition, I’ve tried to make this Encyclopedia a comprehensive source of information
about matters relating to networking. I’ve also tried to present the information in a clear
and useful manner.
This book contains comprehensive, straightforward summaries of the major concepts,
issues, and approaches related to networking. Networking is defined broadly to encompass
configurations ranging from a couple of connected computers just a few feet apart to a network
of several thousand machines (of all types and sizes) scattered around the world. You’ll find
discussions of networking as it’s done by servers and clients, managers and agents, peers, and
even over the telephone.
You probably won’t find anything here that you can’t find in other places. However, I don’t
know of any other book or source that collects so much network-related information in one
place. To find all the information summarized here, you would need to check hundreds of
books, disks, articles, Web pages, or other documents.
Despite its hefty size, this encyclopedia just scratches the surface of what there is to know
about networking. After all, how complete can any book be if just the World Wide Web on the
Internet has over 10 million hypertext documents. I do think, however, that this book scratches
deeper than most other references you’ll find.
This revised edition updates entries for concepts and technologies that change rapidly or
where there have been major developments. I’ve also added considerable material about the
Internet (and especially about the World Wide Web), since interest in this networking phenomenon
is growing at an astounding pace.
As in the first edition, I’ve tried to cover concepts rather than making this a how-to book.
Thus, you won’t learn how to install networks or run specific programs. However, you will
learn about different types of programs and what they do. For example, you can read about
browsers and how they make exploring the World Wide Web possible; you’ll also learn about
programs such as network operating systems and how they differ from ordinary operating
systems.