Topics in Theoretical Computer Science: Internet Research Problems
MIT OpenCourseWare seminar surveying open research questions in internet-related computer science, aimed at graduate students with a background in algorithms and theory. Lectures work through routing protocols such as BGP, transport protocols like TCP, bandwidth sensing tools, load balancing, streaming protocols, DNS problems, internet structure measurement, cost optimization, and large-scale data processing. Each session covers current methods, open issues, precise problem formulations, and possible directions for new research, with enough background given that the stakes of each problem are clear even without prior study of networking. The course is built around discussion of research-level problems rather than a textbook curriculum, and materials consist of lecture notes and readings published through MIT OpenCourseWare under a Creative Commons license, free to access with no certificate offered.