[t-3]

Networking is all about protocols - you're going to have to read RFCs and stare at packet diagrams. With time, practice, and repetition, it will sink in. If you really want to learn, install wireshark and practice with it regularly to build experience.

[ratorx]

While I agree that learning and understanding actual protocols is useful to do anything practical with networking, I don’t see how reading packet diagrams would be useful during a Computer Science degree, where the focus is on concepts, rather than actual implementation.

For example, it really doesn’t matter what TCPs header layout is, what’s more interesting is how it solves the problems it’s designed to solve (e.g. reliable, ordered transit on top of an unreliable base; congestion control etc.), which are independent of the exact TCP implementation.

I also think RFCs are suboptimal for this. They will contain all the details, however this means they have to also explain uninteresting implementation details, whereas a good textbook can present the topics much more concisely.