Comment by f1shy

4 days ago

Because of the formulation of the question, I assume (please don't be irritated, if wrong) that you have very little knowledge of networking. In that case, it won't harm the Beej guide, but probably not the best point to start. The article discuses BGP protocol, which is totally absent in the linked guide. You may write literally millions of networking applications without need to know anything about BGP. Only if you are working in the backbone of the internet, you will encounter BGP, not even in big private networks. It will be a long way to really start from 0 up to BGP.

I was trying to think of an analogy

Kind of like wanting to learn how a car engine works and asking about fleet management in trucks/ lorries.

BGP is one of things I've learnt then forget the next day (multiple times)

  • Me too. The problem is that you just (at least I) never use day to day.

I have to start from somewhere. I don’t mind the grind. I am fascinated by networking. Will begin with beej guide, and go from there.