COMP3331 Notices

Information about Mid-term Exam + Flexibility Week (No lectures and labs next week)

Posted by Salil Kanhere Thursday 20 March 2025, 11:31:32 PM.

The mid-term exam will be held during regular lecture hours (14:00 - 16:00) on Tuesday, 1st April (Week 7) . There will be no lecture on that day. The exam is remote and online .

Please review the information on the Mid-term Exam page (including terms and conditions, precise timing, content covered, exclusions, etc.). A short video (with slides) is also available.

The link for the exam will be circulated towards the end of next week and will also be available on the Mid-term page and the course Moodle page.

A practice exam is also available here: Moodle link . The exam uses the Inspera platform, which will be used for both exams in this course. You can only try the exam once , so please activate it ONLY when you are ready to take it. Answers are available as feedback in Inspera after completing the exam. The questions that require manual marking won't be marked. You'll be able to review the answers provided and compare them with yours. Everyone is strongly urged to attempt the exam. It will familiarise you with the Inspera assessment environment so there are no surprises on exam day. A PDF file with the exam questions and answers is posted on the mid-term exam page.

This is a reminder that there are no lectures or labs in Week 6 . You are all urged to use this week to prepare for the mid-term exam and start on the assignment.

You can provide anonymous feedback about the course here: Google Form .

Week 5: Exploring TCP and Congestion Control, Tutorial, Mid-term Exam coming up

Posted by Salil Kanhere Friday 14 March 2025, 11:30:18 AM.

Next week will be busy. Here is what's coming up:

• Lab 3 is due by 10 am Tuesday, 18th March.
• Next week, a tutorial will replace the lab (in your usual in-person or online room). It is not marked. It will serve as helpful practice for the mid-term exam. Please look through the questions beforehand and try to solve them by yourself. ALL questions are from past exams, so effectively, it is a sample exam paper. You can ask your tutor to prioritise questions that you find difficult. The question set is released.
• In the lectures, we will explore TCP in detail, followed by a discussion on congestion control. Slides are available. I am overseas for a conference next week. Isura, our course admin, will deliver the lectures. Please be nice to him.
• The mid-term exam will be held during regular lecture hours ( 14 :00 - 16:00 ) on Tuesday, 1st April (Week 7) . Towards the end of next week, further information about the format and a sample exam will be available. The exam makes up 20% of your final mark.
• Lab 2 marks and solutions will be available by mid-next week. If you have questions about your marks, please get in touch with your tutor.
• The programming assignment specification was released last week. Please read it carefully. I have recorded a video providing an overview and some general tips. It is linked to the assignment page.
• Everyone is encouraged to discuss the homework questions on the Ed discussion forum. All of these questions are from past exams. We will be happy to add comments to your answers.
• Please complete this poll and let us know which programming language you plan to use for the assignment. This will help us schedule help sessions from Week 7.
• You can provide anonymous feedback about the course through the following link.
• Flexibility Week ( Week 6, 24-28 March ) is nearing. There will be no lectures or labs that week, allowing you to catch up, prepare for the mid-term exam, and get going with the assignment.

Have a good weekend and a great week ahead. Over and out.

Week 4: Getting Busy (Transport Layer, Lab on DNS + TCP Socket Programming, Assignment Released)

Posted by Salil Kanhere Friday 07 March 2025, 10:46:34 AM.

Several announcements for Week 4. Read carefully:

• The lab 2 deadline is 10 am on Tuesday, 11th March .
• Lab 3 has been released. It will require you to learn the nitty-gritty of DNS and gain experience with TCP socket programming.
• In the lectures, we will begin our journey into the Transport Layer . Slides are available for review.
• Here is a poll on the pace of the lectures . Let me know your thoughts so I can make adjustments as necessary.
• The assignment specification is available. It is long but for a reason. Read it carefully, and then reread it (and again). The deadline is noon, Thursday, 23 April (Week 10). Assignment-specific consultations will be arranged in Weeks 7-10. A programming tutorial is scheduled during lab hours in Week 7 . Details will follow for both. In the meantime, post questions to the Ed forum.
• The mid-term exam, worth 20% of the course mark , will be held on Tuesday, 1st April (Week 7) , during regular lecture hours (14:00 - 16:00). It will be held online (remote) on the Inspera assessment platform. Further information and an online sample exam will be available in Week 5.
• The solutions to Lab 1 and your marks will be released by the middle of next week. Please cross-check the solutions to determine why marks were deducted (if any). If you have questions about marking, ask your tutor. The easiest way to access your marks is through the WebCMS interface. Click on the Grades icon beside your name at the bottom of the left frame.
• Everybody is strongly encouraged to discuss solutions to all homework problems on the course forum. Several questions are from past exams and will prepare you for the mid-term and final exams.
• If you haven't joined the Ed discussion forum, here is the link - https://edstem.org/au/join/dS38xh .
• An anonymous feedback form is available here if you have comments for us.

Have a great weekend, and see you at the lectures next week.

Week 3: Continuing our explorations of the Application Layer + Lab 2 (HTTP)

Posted by Salil Kanhere Friday 28 February 2025, 02:12:53 PM.

The Lab 1 report is due by 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 4th . Submission instructions are in the lab spec. Submissions received via email will NOT be entertained.

We will wrap up last week's leftover content in the lectures and study DNS, Peer-to-peer applications, and socket programming. The slides are available for review.

In Lab 2, we will explore HTTP and learn to use a new tool called Wireshark, a protocol analyzer. Wireshark is installed on all lab computers and in VLAB. You can also install Wireshark on your machine. It is free and works on all operating systems. Download it here . You will also get your first exposure to socket programming. Sample working client/server programs in C/Java/Python are available here .

The assignment specification will be released next week.

Very few students appear to be attempting the homework questions. We strongly encourage everyone to work through these questions on their own. We will post answers to the collated questions (e.g., Introduction Questions). However, the questions marked with " Students to Discuss Solutions " are exclusively left for you to work on. Please post your solutions on the Ed forum. We are happy to provide feedback on your attempts. This should serve as excellent practice for the exams.

You can join the Ed Discussion forum via the following link - https://edstem.org/au/join/dS38xh .

An anonymous feedback form is available here if you wish to leave us some comments. We will try our best to respond to your input.

The mid-term exam will be held on Tuesday, 1st April (Week 7), during regular class hours (14:00 - 16:00) . Mark this time in your calendar. It will be held online (remote) using the Inspera platform. A sample exam will be available for you to try, and details will follow.

Have a good weekend, and see you in the lectures next week.

Week 2: Labs Commencing, Wrapping up the Introductory Content and Diving into Applications

Posted by Salil Kanhere Friday 21 February 2025, 09:43:32 AM.

In the Week 2 lectures, we will complete our introduction to computer networks (protocol layering) and dive into networked applications (principles, Web/HTTP, Email). Slides are available for review.

Labs will commence in Week 2. Please attend the lab class you have enrolled in, as many classes are at full capacity . Note that we have a mix of in-person and online labs. Recordings will be available for online labs and accessible through the Labs page. You will notice a few parallel lab classes, e.g., M12A and M12B. Make sure you attend the correct class as per your UNSW timetable. If attending an online lab, you are strongly urged to set up access to the VLAB environment before the lab . It is not an efficient use of your tutor's time if they have to explain this process to you during the lab. We encourage the use of TigerVNC. Check the instructions here . The first lab exercise is now available. You are strongly urged to read the Tools of the Trade introductory lab before attempting the first exercise. The first lab report is due by 10 am Tuesday, 4th March (Week 3) . Submission instructions are in the lab specification.

Several problem-solving questions are accessible on the Homework Questions page. You are strongly encouraged to work through these questions on your own. These are not assessed. We will post answers to the collated questions (e.g., Introduction Questions). However, the questions marked " Students to Discuss Solutions " are exclusively left for you to work on. We are happy to provide feedback on your attempts but will not provide ready solutions. Working through these questions will provide good practice for the exams. Please discuss them on the Ed forum. You can join the forum via the following link: https://edstem.org/au/join/dS38xh .

My consultations are scheduled for Tuesday from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. The course outline page has a link to the Zoom meeting. Alternatelty, you can stop by my office.

This is an early heads-up that the mid-term exam will be held on Tuesday, 1st April (Week 7) , during regular lecture hours (14:00 - 16:00) . Mark this time in your calendar. The exam will be held online using the Inspera platform; details will follow.

Have a great weekend, and I look forward to seeing you during the lectures on Tuesday & Wednesday and online on the forum!

Week 1: Ready, Set, Go.

Posted by Salil Kanhere Monday 17 February 2025, 10:55:47 AM.

Our first lecture will be held on Tuesday, 18th February, from 14:00 - 16:00 in Physics Theatre.

All content for Week 1 is now available on the Lectures page.

I am told live streaming is enabled (to be tested tomorrow). However, I won't be able to answer any questions posted to the stream chat. Lecture recordings will be available on Echo360.

Make sure to read through the course outline before the lecture.

There are NO labs in Week 1, even if your calendar in myUNSW may say so. Labs will commence in Week 2. A self-study lab that introduces you to the various networking tools used in the course is available. Please make sure you go through it this week.

We will use Ed Discussions for the course forum. The default WebCMS forum has been disabled. Please join the forum by clicking on this link: https://edstem.org/au/join/dS38xh .

Please post any course-related questions on the Ed forum. If you must email us, use cs3331@cse.unsw.edu.au instead of our personal emails.

For enrollment issues, contact the Student Nucleus Hub . Course staff do not have access to the enrollment system.

We would appreciate it if you could complete the following poll: Your Internet speed .

See you in the lecture tomorrow !!

Welcome Padawans to COMP3331/9331, Term 1, 2025

Posted by Salil Kanhere Thursday 13 February 2025, 12:01:27 PM, last modified Thursday 13 February 2025, 03:46:12 PM.

Welcome to COMP3331/9331, Term 1, 2025 . The course webpage is at www.cse.unsw.edu.au/~cs3331

The course is being offered in a hybrid mode. All lectures will be in person but recorded and made available via the Echo360 platform in Moodle . We have a mix of in-person (most) and online (few) labs, and consultations will be hybrid. The exams, both the midterm and final, will use the Inspera exam platform. However, the midterm exam is non-invigilated (take home), with open books and notes, while the final exam is invigilated (on campus) and closed-book.

Please check your enrolment and attend the appropriate lab class. If you have enrollment issues, please contact the Nucleus Student Hub. The course staff do not have access to the enrollment system.

Please read the course outline carefully.

Our first lecture will be on Tuesday, 18th February, from 014:00 - 16:00 in Physics Theatre.

All content for Week 1 is now available on the Lectures page.

Labs will commence in Week 2 , even if your timetable indicates they start in Week 1. Details are on the Labs page.

We will be using Ed Discussions for the course forum. Please join via this link. The forum on WebCMS is disabled. Please post any course-related questions on the Ed forum. If you must email us, use cs3331@cse.unsw.edu.au instead of personal emails.

We would appreciate it if you could complete the following poll: Your Internet Speed .

See you on Tuesday !!