Visualization Tools for Learning TCP/IP

This paper describes TCP/IP visualization tools for students who plan to become communication and computer engineers. TCP/IP protocols are fundamental for computer networks and the Internet. For this reason, communication and computer engineers have to learn the protocols. However, learning the protocols is difficult, because students cannot fully understand or gain experience with the protocols by using traditional learning methods, such as textbooks and lectures, and the learning methods cannot show the various communication procedures and combinations of control methods of the protocols. In this paper, we review the subjects which students must master in communication and network courses and discuss some problems in these courses. To solve these problems, we previously developed two TCP/IP visualization tools and now propose a new tool for the control methods of packet arrival order.