Milestone map
Milestone map
2 milestones
Do the course work in public
4–8 weeks (4–12 hrs/week)
Take Computer Networking: a Top-Down Approach for free and do the Wireshark labs, with your own captures and answers. Keep everything in one public repo or notebook as you go.
Proof required
Link your public repo or notebook with the Wireshark labs, with your own captures and answers, and a screenshot or log showing the self-check passed.
What gets checked
- Captures are your own (your machine, your times).
- Answers point to the packets that prove them.
- Every layer is covered.
Common mistakes
- Copying posted answers: verifiers read the history.
- Skipping the self-check, then asking for review too early.
Powstik Guide
A public repo or notebook with the Wireshark labs, with your own captures and answers.
Steps
- Make a public repo or notebook first.
- Do one unit at a time and commit after each.
- Run the self-check: Do the interactive problems; they check your answer at once.
- Write a short README: what is here and how to run it.
- Ask three people who know the topic to check it.
Template
README Course: Computer Networking: a Top-Down Approach (Kurose & Ross (UMass Amherst)) What is here: How to run it: Self-check result: What was hardest:
What gets sent back
- No history, just one big upload.
- Self-check not shown.
- Code that does not run from the README.
Resources
Foundationstart here
Depthgo deeper
Masteryfor the dedicated
What a verifier looks for
- Captures are your own (your machine, your times).
- Answers point to the packets that prove them.
- Every layer is covered.
- Ask one question about a choice in the code; the answer should be clear.
You'll sign in first, then come straight back here.
Build a networked program
1–3 weeks (5–8 hrs/week)
Use what you learned. Make a working web server, chat app or UDP pinger using sockets, tested between two machines. Keep it small enough to finish in about two weeks.
Proof required
Link a working web server, chat app or UDP pinger using sockets, tested between two machines, with a README that says how to run or read it.
What gets checked
- It works between two machines.
- It handles a dropped connection.
- A capture shows the traffic.
Common mistakes
- A project too big to finish.
- A demo that only works on your machine.
Powstik Guide
A working web server, chat app or UDP pinger using sockets, tested between two machines.
Steps
- Write one line: what it does and for whom.
- Build the smallest version that works.
- Test it on someone else's machine or with someone else reading it.
- Write the README.
- Ask three people to check it.
Template
README What it does: Who it is for: How to run it: What I would do next:
What gets sent back
- Does not run from the README.
- Not clearly the person's own work.
- Claims more than it does.
Resources
Foundationstart here
Depthgo deeper
Masteryfor the dedicated
What a verifier looks for
- It works between two machines.
- It handles a dropped connection.
- A capture shows the traffic.
- Check that the work is the person's own.
You'll sign in first, then come straight back here.