Diagrammatization of the Transmission Control Protocol
With the wide spread of Internet services, developers and users need a greater understanding of the technology of networking. Acquiring a clear understanding of communication protocols is an important step in understanding how a network functions; however, many protocols are complicated, and explaining them can be demanding. In addition, protocols are often explained in terms of traffic analysis and oriented toward technical staff and those already familiar with network protocols. This paper aims at proposing a diagrammatic methodology to represent protocols in general, with a focus on the Transmission Control Protocol and Secure Sockets Layer in particular. The purpose is to facilitate understanding of protocols for learning and communication purposes. The methodology is based on the notion of flow of “primitive” things in a system with six stages: creation, release, transfer, arrival, acceptance, and processing. Though the method presents a basic description of protocols without in-depth analysis of all aspects and mechanisms, the resultant conceptual description is a systematic specification that utilizes a few basic notions that assist in illustrating functionality and support comprehension.
Keywords: conceptual model, Transmission Control Protocol, Secure Sockets Layer, protocol specification, flowthing model
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sabah Al-Fedaghi
Sabah Al-Fedaghi holds an MS and a PhD in computer science from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and a BS in Engineering Science from Arizona State University, Tempe. He has published two books and more than 120 papers in journals and conferences on Software Engineering, Database Systems, Information Systems, Computer/information Ethics, Information Privacy, Information Security and Assurance, Information Warfare, Conceptual Modeling, System Modeling, Information Seeking, and Artificial Agents. He is an associate professor in the Computer Engineering Department, Kuwait University. He previously worked as a programmer at the Kuwait Oil Company and headed the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (1991–1994) and the Computer Engineering Department (2000–2007). http://cpe.kuniv.edu/images/CVs/sabah.pdf
Sabah Al-Fedaghi
Sabah Al-Fedaghi holds an MS and a PhD in computer science from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, and a BS in Engineering Science from Arizona State University, Tempe. He has published two books and more than 120 papers in journals and conferences on Software Engineering, Database Systems, Information Systems, Computer/information Ethics, Information Privacy, Information Security and Assurance, Information Warfare, Conceptual Modeling, System Modeling, Information Seeking, and Artificial Agents. He is an associate professor in the Computer Engineering Department, Kuwait University. He previously worked as a programmer at the Kuwait Oil Company and headed the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department (1991–1994) and the Computer Engineering Department (2000–2007). http://cpe.kuniv.edu/images/CVs/sabah.pdf
