Unit 5 & the Network Train

There seems to be so much reading required for this class, and everything that we read is crucial to understanding the concepts – sometimes the detail is so technical I find that I have to reread a section 2 or more times before it sinks in. It feels that in part by osmosis and repetition that I’m coming to understand how everything works together. This week’s unit on networking has been one of most interesting thus far, although honestly binary numbers are still throwing me for a local loop (joke). A long train ride up to Oakland allowed me to plow through the Nemeth reading, although again, it’s when I get to the binary numbers and IP addresses that I feel a bit lost.

I guess as far as learning types I fall into the visual learner category, although I think there must be a tinge of verbal learning style in the mix. The videos in this week’s readings were great, especially the interview with Metcalfe discussing the creation of Ethernet and the video on sending data packets across the LAN and internet – this latter selection kind of reminded me of space mountain.