Theoretical aspects of distributed systems

Unofficial prerequisite: Distributed algorithms (#236357).
Time and place: Monday, 14:30-16:30 (Ullman 104)
Lecturer: Dr. Hagit Attiya.
Office hours: Monday, 16:30-17:30, Fishbach 455.

The course presents several examples where a good theoretical concept (algorithm, definition, impossibility result) influence the way distributed systems can be built.The course will include the following topics:

• Scalable and lock-free synchronization.
• Broadcast and multicast.
• Replication.
• Distributed shared memory.
• Distributed file systems.

And additional topics, as time permits and the lecturer wishes…

The course will deal with systems, but it is not a programming course—its methodology is theoretical.

The course is research-oriented: It covers mostly recent papers and emphasizes open problems.

Grading policy:

The grade will be based on the following factors

• Homework exercises (not many)
• Mid-term examination
• Presenting a paper in class or writing a good summary (in pairs).

Pointers:

Partial bibliography.
This course borrows some of its material from Maurice Herlihy’s course at Brown University.
See also Nir Shavit’s course at MIT.