COMP28112: Distributed Computing (2011-2012)

This is an archived syllabus from 2011-2012

View 2018-2019 syllabus.

Distributed Computing

Level: 2
Credit rating: 10
Pre-requisites: COMP18112 and COMP16212 (COMP251111 desirable)
Co-requisites: No Co-requisites
Duration: 11 weeks in second semester
Lectures: 22 in total, 2 per week
Labs: 10 hours in total, 5 2-hour sessions
Lecturers: Rizos Sakellariou
Course lecturer: Rizos Sakellariou

Additional staff: view all staff

Timetable

Semester	Event	Location	Day	Time	Group
Sem 2	Lecture	Schuster MOSELEY TH (G64)	Mon	13:00 - 14:00	-
Sem 2	Lecture	St Peters House CHAPLAINCY (012)	Mon	16:00 - 17:00	-
Sem 2 B	Lab	G23	Mon	10:00 - 12:00	G
Sem 2 B	Lab	G23	Tue	11:00 - 13:00	I

Assessment Breakdown

Exam: 80%
Coursework: 0%
Lab: 20%

Themes to which this unit belongs

Web and Distributed Systems

Aims

Many of the most important and visible uses of computer technology rely on distributed computing. This course unit aims to build on the course unit in the first year (COMP10052) which introduced students to the principles of distributed computing, and it focuses on techniques and methods in sufficient breadth and depth to provide a foundation for the exploration of specific topics in more advanced course units. The course unit assumes that students have already a solid understanding of the main principles of computing within a single machine, have a rudimentary understanding of the issues related to machine communication and networking, and have been introduced to the area of distributed computing.

Programme outcome	Unit learning outcomes	Assessment
	Have knowledge and understanding of the main principles, techniques and methods involved when dealing with distributed systems.	Examination
	Have detailed knowledge and understanding of major issues related to the design of a distributed system, such as: - how to communicate between distributed objects by means of remote invocation.	Examination
	Have detailed knowledge and understanding of major issues related to the design of a distributed system, such as: - the absence of global physical time in distributed systems.	Examination
	Have detailed knowledge and understanding of major issues related to the design of a distributed system, such as: - how processes can coordinate their actions in a distributed setting distributed transactions.	Examination
	Have the ability to design and implement prototypical distributed computing applications using different technologies.	Lab assessment
	Be aware how the fundamental techniques above are applied in practical systems.

Syllabus

Introduction

Revision of the characteristics of distributed systems. Challenges. Architectural models.

Remote Invocation and Distributed Objects

Java RMI, CORBA, Web Services.

Message-Oriented middleware

Synchronous vs asynchronous messaging. Point-to-point messaging. Publish-subscribe.

Concurrency, co-ordination and distributed transactions

Ordering of events. Two-phase commit protocol. Consensus.

Caching and Replication

Security

Service-Oriented Architectures, REST and Web Services

Reading List

Core Text

Title: Distributed systems (3rd edition)
Author: van Steen, Maarten and Andrew S. Tanenbaum
ISBN: 9781543057386
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Edition: 3rd
Year: 2017

Core Text

Title: Distributed systems: concepts and design (5th edition)
Author: Coulouris, George et al.
ISBN: 9780273760597
Publisher: Addison-Wesley
Edition: 5th
Year: 2011