Fall 2026

Introduction to Computer Networks

Introduction to computer network architecture, protocols, and performance including TCP, IP, and security.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Fall 2026 Ali Abedi

Summary

1 / 6

Historical reviews of Paul Barford, Suman Banerjee: Workload includes multiple quizzes and programming assignments, with some reviewers noting a lighter load while others emphasize the need for extensive textbook reading and careful note-taking.

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
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All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

(COMP SCI/​E C E 354 and COMP SCI 400) or graduate/professional standing

COMPSCI 640

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree

Professors

Fall 2026

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2026: 3.85 GPA, 90.9% A/AB (n=88 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

Historical reviews of Paul Barford, Suman Banerjee: Ali Abedi is the current instructor, but reviews for Paul Barford and Suman Banerjee dominate the history. Barford is praised as an engaging lecturer but criticized for difficult, pedantic exams and subjective quizzes. Banerjee is described as passionate yet unclear, with poorly organized slides and significant content loss due to administrative issues.

AKARSH PRABHAKARA is recorded teaching in Fall 2025. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

ALI ABEDI is recorded teaching in Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

PAUL BARFORD is recorded teaching in Fall 2008, Fall 2009, Spring 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2015, Fall 2016, Fall 2017, Spring 2019, Fall 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2023, Fall 2023, Fall 2024. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

SUMAN BANERJEE is recorded teaching in Spring 2008, Spring 2009, Spring 2018, Spring 2022, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Fall 2026

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction56 / 6032

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Historical reviews of Akarsh Prabhakara, Paul Barford, Suman Banerjee: The course offers engaging networking content taught by knowledgeable instructors, though student experiences vary significantly regarding lecture clarity and assessment fairness.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2025: 3.42 GPA, 65.4% A/AB (n=104 letter grades); Fall 2025: 3.58 GPA, 81.5% A/AB (n=54 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.69 GPA, 79.3% A/AB (n=213 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Historical reviews of Paul Barford, Suman Banerjee: Workload includes multiple quizzes and programming assignments, with some reviewers noting a lighter load while others emphasize the need for extensive textbook reading and careful note-taking.

Historical reviews of Akarsh Prabhakara, Paul Barford, Suman Banerjee: Students report mixed experiences with lecture organization and slide quality, citing issues with unclear materials, poor time management, and subjective grading in some terms.

Topics

  • Protocol layering, transmission control, routing, and security.

Skills

  • Understanding network architecture, protocol layering, and specific protocols like TCP, IP, and HTTP.

Grades

Historical instructor

Fall 2026 · Projected

Before grades are released

– average GPA

Approximate 80% prediction interval

About this estimate

The course’s semester-average GPA, not an individual student’s grade. The center uses 5 same-season terms, weighted toward recent results.

The range uses the finite-sample 80th-percentile rank of absolute errors from earlier same-season forecasts. Each forecast uses only records from earlier terms. At least four forecasts are required; bounds are rounded outward and limited to 0–4. This is an empirical estimate: changing instructors or grading policies can reduce its coverage.

8 earlier forecasts · 0.22 GPA average error.

Grades over time

Through Fall 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1283 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
COMPSCI 640 · Fall 2026

Introduction to Computer Networks

Recorded 2026-09-07
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20260907T155543-ce3781c4",
    "semester": "1272",
    "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1272:266:004293",
    "course_id": "COMPSCI 640",
    "course_uid": "course_ab7d07685857737322064a42",
    "term_id": "1272",
    "source_course_id": "004293",
    "source_subject_id": "266",
    "title": "Introduction to Computer Networks",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Fall, Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
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Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-09-07

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "nvidia/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-NVFP4",
  "model_revision": "1355db6a052410cfd62085d94b58866fd0f2c3c5",
  "task_version": "14",
  "output_id": "da8651ed0f69b1262f547ef245d8476d51a1feeadf79aeeffa69abbc14388742",
  "requirements_status": "valid",
  "dataset_revision": "e243353dcb7d79b7247ced91d69443ef4c2a6349",
  "observed_at": "2026-09-07 15:55:43.033547+00:00"
}