Introduction

What is Computer Networking?

In the world of computers, networking is the practice of linking two or more computing devices together for the purpose of sharing data. Networks are built with a mix of computer hardware and computer software. 

Types of Networking

One way to categorize the different types of computer network designs is by their scope or scale. For historical reasons, the networking industry refers to nearly every type of design as some kind of area network. Common examples of area network types are:

•    LAN    -       Local Area Network
•   WAN   -       Wide Area Network
• MAN  -        Metropolitan Area Network

Network Topology

A computer network topology is the physical communication scheme used by connected devices. These pages illustrate the common computer network topologies including bus, ring and star topology diagrams. More complex networks can be built as hybrids of two or more of these basic topologies.