Book excerpt: This is a book about the bricks and mortar from which are built those edifices that will permeate the emerging information society of the future-computer networks. For many years such computer networks have played an indirect role in our daily lives as the hidden servants of banks, airlines, and stores. Now they are becoming more visible as they enter our offices and homes and directly become part of our work, entertainment, and daily living. The study of how computer networks function is a combined study of communication theory and computer science, two disciplines appearing to have very little in common. The modern communication scientist wishing to work in this area soon finds that solving the traditional problems of transmission, modulation, noise immunity, and error bounds in getting the signal from one point to another is just the beginning of the challenge. The communication must be in the right form to be routed properly, to be handled without congestion, and to be understood at various points in the network. As for the computer scientist, he finds that his discipline has also changed. The fraction of computers that belong to networks is increasing all the time. And for a typical single computer, the fraction of its execution load, storage occupancy, and system management problems that are in volved with being part of a network is also growing.