3.4.2 Explain basic network topologies.
Teaching Note:
Students must be able to explain and illustrate star and bus networks
as well as hybrids involving both these networks.
JSR Notes:
This one says "Explain", and is Objective 3. So a definition here is not enough. And it also says "illustrate" in the teaching notes. So you have to be able to visually remember what the diagrammatic representations of these topologies look like. Including hybrids of these. A hybrid is one that includes more than one, and there is a good diagram of one on page 173.
Within the realm of experience of most individuals today, yes, bus and ring topologies are a bit out of date, but they exist, and in certain situations are still used.
Remember that if the bus network topology setup is broken at any one point, it disrupts the entire network - think of Neil's Christmas lights example. That's one advantage of the ring topology, where the signal can go two ways, so a break at one point will not disrupt the others.
We use the star network topology, where all "wired" computers in the school have a dedicated Ethernet cable connection to a switch.
And actually, ring topology is not mentioned in the teaching notes, and neither are some other terms mentioned in the text book. Though you certainly should be able to describe clients/servers.