University Homepage School Homepage School Contacts School Search

Distributed Systems

Announcements

• No lecture on Thursday, February 6
• We will cover mutual exclusion algorithms and discuss the coursework in lecture on February 10
• The programming and theory parts of the coursework can be submitted as separate files, with the theory solutions as a PDF rather than as a comment in the source code for the programming assignment.
• There will be a lab-based office hours session Wednesday, March 5 in AT 5.08 from 3-5pm.
• Multiple source code files can be submitted for the programming part of the coursework by combining them into a single .zip file.

Basic Information

Instructors: James Cheney and Rik Sarkar

• In 2013-2014 this course will run in the second semester.
• Lecture schedule:

  Mondays: 14:10-15:00, Lecture Theatre 1, Appleton Tower (11 Crichton street)

  Thursdays: 14:10-15:00, Lecture Theatre 3, Appleton Tower (11 Crichton street)

• Office Hours:

  James Cheney: Tuesdays 11:30AM - 12:30PM

  Rik Sarkar: Thursdays 3:00PM - 4:00PM

  Or by appointment

Announcements

1. PhD positions are available in Pervasive parallelism CDT. Contact us for distributed systems related topics.

Assignment Web Page

Course structure

Final Exam: 75%. Coursework: 25% -- One assignment with programming and theory.

Drps page for the course

Course topics outline

1. Introduction to Distributed Systems slides
2. Fundamentals of distributed computation slides 1, slides 2, slides 3
3. Time and global states (Coulouris et al. chapter on "Time and global state") slides 1, slides 2, slides 3
4. Coordination and agreement (Coulouris et al. chapter on "Coordination and agreement") slides 1, slides 2, slides 3
5. Peer to Peer Slides 1, Slides 2
6. Distributed operating systems. Slides
7. Security

Lecture schedule

There is no lecture on February 6. We plan to continue lectures until March 24 (beginning of week 10).

Feedback

• Summative feedback: The coursework assignment will be made available electronically on this web page by January 27. It will be due March 13 at 4pm, via electronic submission. It will be evaluated and graded by April 3. Feedback will consist of scores for parts of the assignment along with brief explanations of the reasons for deduction of credit.
• Formative feedback: Lecturers will hold weekly office hours where students are welcome to ask questions or discuss the assignment. This provides an opportunity for students to improve their understanding of the course material as evaluated in the coursework or final exam.

Related material

Last year's web page. Note that last year the course was run as a split level 10/11 course. This year it will be run only as a level 11 course.