I'm learning computer networks through a structured course and already have some C++ experience. I'd like to build several projects alongside my studies so I can understand the concepts more deeply and create meaningful portfolio projects. I'm looking for ideas across different difficulty levels: an approachable beginner project, an intermediate project using several networking concepts, and a more advanced project that combines multiple areas of networking. I'd prefer projects I can implement largely from scratch instead of following a step-by-step tutorial.
2 Answers
You could explore protocols below the usual IP layer, such as Ethernet or BACnet. A good progression would be to create and inspect raw Ethernet frames, then build a tiny ARP responder that answers requests for a test IP address. Working with raw sockets will make details like packet headers, byte order, and protocol structure much more concrete.
A practical smaller project would be a command-line tool that parses firewall logs. You could extract source and destination addresses, ports, protocols, timestamps, and allowed or blocked actions, then add filtering and summary statistics. It’s useful practice for parsing real data and understanding how network activity is recorded.
I haven’t worked with those protocols before, but I’ll look into them. Thanks for the suggestions!