CS3283 Distributed Systems

Course Duration: One Semester

Credit Units: 3

Level: B3

Medium of Instruction: English

Pre-requisites: Nil

Pre-cursors:
CS3103 Operating Systems /or equivalent 
and
CS3201 Computer Networks /or equivalent

Equivalent Courses: Nil

Exclusive Courses: Nil

Part II

Course Aims:

This course aims to explain the rationals of distributed computing, the tradeoffs of different architectures for distributed computing systems, and to provide fundamental knowledges on the key issues in modern distributed systems including interprocess communication, multi-threading and concurrency programming, naming and distributed services, time synchronization, process and data coordination, consistency management and distributed concurrency control, distributed replications and deadlock resolution.

Course Intended Learning Outcomes (CILOs):
(state what the student is expected to be able to do at the end of the course according to a given standard of performance)

Upon successful completion of this course, students should be able to:
 

No.	CILOs	Weighting(if applicable)
1.	Describe the basic architectures of distributed systems, the problems in providing distributed transparency, and the rationales and trade-offs of different types of transparencies;
2.	Program and describe the problems in interprocess communications;
3.	Apply and evaluate the basic algorithms for distributed systems such as time synchronization, name management, process and data coordination;
4.	Analyze the performance characteristics of different algorithms for transaction management and distributed deadlock resolution; and
5.	Show the trends and problems of current distributed systems using examples.

Teaching and learning Activities (TLAs):
(designed to facilitate students’ achievement of the CILOs)

Teaching pattern:
Suggested lecture/tutorial/laboratory mix:  2 hrs. lecture; 1 hr. tutorial.
 

ILO No	TLAs	Hours/week(if applicable)
CILO 1 to CILO 5	The concepts and techniques of distributed computiung will be covered in the lectures.  The tutorials provide an opportunity for the students to discuss and deepen their understanding of material learnt during the lectures.  A series of test/assignments, aimed at helping with the students' learning the concepts, approaches and techniques, will be offered.  The test and assignment results will also serves as feedback so that the lecturer can pace the presentations accordingly.

Assessment Tasks/Activities:
(designed to assess how well the students achieve the CILOs)

The Course ILOs are assessed using the following approach:

ILO No	Type of assessment tasks/activities	Weighting (if applicable)	Remarks
CILO 1 to CILO 5	All the course ILOs are expected to be assessed using both coursework and examination.  In particular, ILOs 1 and 5 will be assessed using application problems in the coursework. ILO 2 will be assessed through a programming assignment.

Grading of Student Achievement: Refer to Grading of Courses in the Academic Regulations (Attachment) and to the Explanatory Notes.

Examination duration: 2 hours
Percentage of coursework, examination, etc.: 30% CW; 70% Exam
Grading pattern: Standard (A+AA-…F)
For a student to pass the course, at least 30% of the maximum mark for the examination must be obtained.

Part III

Keyword Syllabus: 

Distributed systems architectures; Transparency requirements and issues; Interprocess Communications (IPC); Distributed Services and Naming Services; Consistency maintaining; Distributed synchronization; Distributed coordination; Concurrency Control, Distributed Deadlock, Replications and Distributed Transaction Atomicity.