Having Trouble Understanding the TCP/IP Protocol (Homework)?

[xTobyMc]

Before I start, I'd just like to quickly say that I'm not asking anybody to do my homework for me as I obviously need to do it myself, I just need a bit of help understanding these questions for my assignment.

I've written a couple of pages about what TCP/IP is and how each layer works, allowing data to be transmitted from a sender to a receiver through the internet. However, the assignment asks to explain how the TCP/IP suite allows application layer protocols to communicate, as well as why they don't need specific information about other layers.

These two questions are the parts I have not achieved in my first submission of the work, and I need to improve by answering them. The thing is, I don't understand what those questions are asking me to do exactly, as I've already talked about how each layer is linked...

I doubt anyone will answer this anyway as it's a bit off topic, but I thought I'd give it a shot anyway.

Thanks

 

[beers]

It sounds more like a contrast/compare type of scenario where the protocols have interdependencies yet do not depend on the information about other layers.

So, crap like stuffing your own protocol within an IP packet is independent of the information tacked on in other headers such as TCP and IP. Your own protocol in this case doesn't care about frames and MAC addresses as long as it can be unpacked and parsed at that application-or-other layer, and the lower layer doesn't care what kind of data is encapsulated in the data field.

At least that's what I am getting out of it.