Talk:Network topology
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[edit] Glow Topology
Should the Glow topology from wireless networks be added? If yes, i'm willing to contribute a decent paragraph on it. Theroachman 00:20, 9 March 2006 (UTC)
[edit] DAG
How about a graph image with directed arcs showing a directed asymmetric graph? btw I am using these graphic images in a couple of pages I have edited, they are very effective. Being new, I couldnt figure out from the graphics page who was making them and with what software. They look a bit like they could be made with Pajek, which also does svg and directed arcs--Douglas R. White 22:26, 20 August 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Readability of the Article
I recently referred my students to Wikipedia for research purposes, however they found the article difficult to read and understand. The text of the article was subjected to a readability text which indicated that the article was of an undergraduate level and therefore not suitable for my students who are aged 16-19. The main problem was that the sentence structure was too long. Would anyone be willing to rewrite the article in more simple English to make it suitable for a wider audience? User:Sarahhcfe 19:58, 23 October 2006
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- There's a special version of wikipedia written for those whose grasp of english is shaky. The articles are much easier to read, relying on simple vocabulary and grammatical constructs. Go to "simple.wikipedia.org". yandman 17:41, 12 November 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Lack of references / correctness of article...
Could the author(s) of this article please add some citations to references.
Also, it seems that the article could be rewritten so that it is more in line with other references and web resources - i.e., there is no mention in the article about the distinction between physical and logical topologies, why they exist as separate topics in discussions concerning network topology, etc.
Also, many other resources which range from network study guides to university professor's notes use an entirely different approach to the subject which seems to be more conducive to an understanding of the subject i.e., starting with physical topologies and explaining how these topologies came about and then evolving the discussion into more complex subjects (relatively speaking), such as logical topologies.
The article seems to contradict itself in at least one respect in that it first states that "A network topology is the pattern of links connecting pairs of nodes of a network." and then includes physical connections in the statement that "Distances between nodes, physical interconnections, transmission rates, and/or signal types are not a matter of network topology, although they may be affected by it in an actual physical network." which is confusing to a beginner, since the links which connect the nodes of a network are quite often represented entirely by a physical interconnection and determine (in my understanding) a large part of the physical topology of a network.
I thought about rewriting the article myself and taking into consideration the above but, since I am not an expert on the subject, I would be writing from the viewpoint of a student with references to the appropriate authors and an almost complete rewrite of the article. I am hesitant to do this because the original author or authors may have superior knowledge of the subject (e.g., I am not a mathematician) and some information may be lost in the rewrite.
Is there some place where a person can post a rewrite of the article without superseding the current article until it has been discussed and some consensus reached? It seemed inappropriate to post a rewrite in the discussion page due to the potential length of the article and I do not want to write the article on the simple.wikipedia.org site as I would be using (as another commenter stated) higher level language and would have a difficult time choosing other words. --mlewis000 06:04, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
- I'd suggest you just go ahead with the rewrite. If you make any mistakes, someone else can fix them — at worst, if your rewrite really sucks, someone will just revert the article back to the old version. Nobody owns articles on Wikipedia. If you want to make a "draft" version first, you can do so on a subpage of your user page, for example at User:Mlewis000/Network topology draft. —Ilmari Karonen (talk) 12:59, 10 December 2006 (UTC)
[edit] Confusion concerning terminology...
I have rewritten this article to the best of my ability given my reference sources but am still confused concerning some aspects of the terminology used in this subject, especially concerning the correct usage of the term 'physical'. In some instances the term seems to be used to describe the actual arrangement of the layout of the cabling and the nodes in a network and in other instances it seems to be referring to the physical layer of the OSI model.
For example, the star network, which could exhibit, from a signal standpoint, any number of topologies while physically it is a star with reference to the central node being linked to the peripheral nodes in a hub and spoke fashion with cables. This topology could be used to implement the 802.4 Token Bus network if I am not mistaken but in this implementation (at the PHY layer) it is a physical bus and at the logical layer it is a logical ring which results in three topologies (i.e., physical star [cabling level], physical bus [PHY layer], logical ring) instead of the two referred to in most references (i.e., physical bus / logical ring). I am confused as to how to describe this network in network topology terms. My best attempt would be to describe it as a physical star, signal bus, and logical ring but can find no reference to this type of usage of the terminology.
For another example, the same star network could be implemented using a switch as the hub or central node and then it would exhibit a mesh (hybrid ?) topology as far as the signal is concerned and could be used to implement some type of a logical ring topology (given the correct software in the nodes), in which case I would describe this network as a physical star, signal mesh, and logical ring.
In my examples, the term 'signal' seems to be replaced by 'physical' in many texts and the fact that the physical and signal topologies (my terminology) are different seems to be entirely overlooked or ignored.
If someone could clarify this for me (with some references that are easily accessible over the internet if possible) I would be happy to incorporate this new (for me) understanding into this article.
Thanks! --mlewis000 19:35, 12 December 2006 (UTC)
