Report to the Computer Systems and Electronics Division of the Department of Industry, London on The ARPA Computer Network

摘要

The ARPA Network and the activities associated with it cover a vast range:from computer science to applications programs, from hardware development to development of computer languages, from research into signal processing to development of data bases. We have taken as our main brief the need to present a complete, comprehensible and (hopefully) concise description of the Network - what it is, what it does and how it is being used. In addition we have attempted to stand back and comment on the Network. No-one believes that the ARPA Network is the ultimate in computer communication networks:the design art is still new and, in any case, the environment of a computer network - country, use and ownership -will greatly influence the way in which such a network should be designed.