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Course description: This course is for students interested in design and analysis of algorithms for concurrent and distributed systems, where multiple entities interact through shared memory or message passing. We will study well-known algorithms, which underlie today's most important distributed storage and concurrent processing applications. We will also discuss methods for systematically developing them and reasoning about them, and implement some of the algorithms.
Course work: In-class exercises, reading and homework assignments, an exam, and a project where students may implement and experiment with well-known algorithms, demonstrate their correctness and performance properties, study optimizations for them, exploit them in interesting applications, or take on other tasks that exploit or extend the topics studied.
Prerequisites: an algorithm course, a programming language or compiler course, a database course, and skills for programming in a high-level language such as Python or Java; or permission of the instructor. | Credits: 3.
Instructor: Annie Liu | Email: liu@cs.stonybrook.edu | Office: Computer Science 1433 | Phone: 631-632-8463.
Lectures: Tue Thu 1-2:20PM, in CS 2205 | Office hours: Tue 12:40-1PM, 2:20-3:20PM, Wed 12:40-1PM, Thu 2:20-3:20PM, email for an appointment, or stop by any time I'm around.
Textbook: There is no required textbook for this course; relevant materials and additional references will be given as the course proceeds.
Grading: Lecture critiques, in-class exercises, reading and homework assignments, an exam, and a project, each worth 5%, 10%, 40%, 25%, and 20%, respectively, of the grade. Reduced credit for late submissions, 20% per day.
Course homepage: http://www.cs.stonybrook.edu/~liu/cse393
Week 1: Overview. Assignment 1
Part I: Foundation
Week 2: Mutual exclusion in shared-memory systems. Assignment 2
Week 3: Mutual exclusion in message-passing systems.
Week 4: Concurrent and distributed programming languages. Assignment 3
Week 5: Correctness and efficiency.
Part II: Important algorithms
Week 6: Distributed consensus. Assignment 4
Week 7: More distributed algorithms.
Week 8: More distributed algorithms.
Week 9: Non-blocking algorithms. Assignment 5
Week 10: More concurrent algorithms.
Week 11: (4/14) Exam: In-class exam. (4/16) Start project. Project
Part III: In the large
Week 12: Distributed services.
Week 13: Knowledge and common knowledge.
Week 14: Project presentations.
(5/8) Project report due
Questionnaire
Lecture Critiques
In-Class Exercises
Assignment 1: Concurrent and distributed applications
Assignment 2: Mutual exclusion
Assignment 3: Distributed mutual exclusion
Assignment 4: Paxos and more
Assignment 5: Non-blocking queue and more
Exam
Project
Interactive Site of This Course, for students in the class
Computer Science Department Computing Labs
Learn all information on the course homepage. Check the homepage periodically for announcements and other dynamic contents.
Attend all lectures and take good notes. This is the most efficient way to learn the course materials, because we will both distill and elaborate paper materials and discuss other important materials. We will start promptly on time, with quick reviews every time, followed by exercises or quizzes. We will have every student participate in solving problems and presenting solutions in class.
Do all course work. The readings are to help you preview and review the materials discussed in the lectures. The assignments and project are to provide concrete experiences with the basic concepts and methods covered in the lectures. The exercises and quizzes are to help check that you are keeping up with the lectures and the assignments. The exams will be comprehensive.
Ask questions and get help. Ask questions in class, in office hours, and in the Q&A forum. Talk with your classmates, and share ideas (but nothing written or electronic).
Academic Integrity: All course work must be done individually, unless specified otherwise; you may discuss ideas with others and look up references, but you must write up your solutions independently and credit all sources that you used. Any plagiarism or other forms of cheating discovered will have a permanent consequence in your university record.
Each student must pursue his or her academic goals honestly and be personally accountable for all submitted work. Representing another person's work as your own is always wrong. Faculty are required to report any suspected instances of academic dishonesty to the Academic Judiciary. For more comprehensive information on academic integrity, including categories of academic dishonesty, please refer to the academic judiciary website at http://www.stonybrook.edu/uaa/academicjudiciary/
Americans with Disabilities Act: If you have a physical, psychological, medical or learning disability that may impact your course work, please contact Disability Support Services, ECC(Educational Communications Center) Building, Room 128, (631)632-6748. They will determine with you what accommodations, if any, are necessary and appropriate. All information and documentation is confidential.
Critical Incident Management: Stony Brook University expects students to respect the rights, privileges, and property of other people. Faculty are required to report to the Office of University Community Standards any disruptive behavior that interrupts their ability to teach, compromises the safety of the learning environment, or inhibits students' ability to learn. Further information about most academic matters can be found in the Undergraduate Bulletin, the Undergraduate Class Schedule, and the Faculty-Employee Handbook.