Topology vs Networks in computer science?

Could I please have some help in understanding what is the difference between a topology and network. Primarily for OCR exam board, but it shouldn't really matter

What I understand right now is that:
A topology is the physics wiring of a network such as the use of a switch, servers and ethernet to direct data around a network.
A network is the way data is transmitted between computers, where some computers acts as a server (sending data) and some computers acts as a client (receiving data)
A Mesh network simply has multiple computers which all transmit and receive data from each other, esentially acting as both clients and servers.
A Star network has a single server which sends data and clients who receive data

I feel like some of the stuff I said was wrong... could anyone provide a clear differentiation. Thanks

Reply 1

aditya nair12344

Original post by full-size-hustle

Could I please have some help in understanding what is the difference between a topology and network. Primarily for OCR exam board, but it shouldn't really matter
What I understand right now is that:
A topology is the physics wiring of a network such as the use of a switch, servers and ethernet to direct data around a network.
A network is the way data is transmitted between computers, where some computers acts as a server (sending data) and some computers acts as a client (receiving data)
A Mesh network simply has multiple computers which all transmit and receive data from each other, esentially acting as both clients and servers.
A Star network has a single server which sends data and clients who receive data
I feel like some of the stuff I said was wrong... could anyone provide a clear differentiation. Thanks

A network is two or more computers or other electronic devices that are connected together for the purpose of communication. They are connected by a wired medium such as cables, or by a wireless medium such as Wi-Fi, but a topology is the arrangement, or pattern, in which all nodes on a network are connected together. The major network topologies are: bus, ring, star ,mesh

Reply 2

user2882

yes so:
physical topology: the way we physically connect nodes on a network,
logical topology: the way packets flow around a network
network: a system that connects devices so they can share information.

so a networks physical topology could be a star network (where each device is connected to a central server) but it can logically behave as a bus network using the bus protocol (where the data is sent out to all the devices making it way less secure) if a hub is used as the central server.

as an aqa student, I don't know much about mesh networks but I hope that helps.

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