CS 380D
Fall 2006
Unique number 56515
Distributed Systems
Instructor J. Misra
office: TAY 3.102
email: misra@cs.utexas.edu
phone: 471-9550
office hours: TTH 3:30-4:30P or by appointment
 
Teaching Assistant To be announced
email:
office hours:
 
Class TTH 2:00-3:30P GEO 2.218
 
Discussion Sections To be announced
 
Subject Matter The goal of this course is to present a number of important ideas in distributed computing and provide rigorous methods for reasoning about distributed programs. The topics are: distributed detection algorithms; distributed resource allocation; logical clocks; global snapshot; a logic for reasoning about distributed programs; safety and progress; Byzantine agreement; and transaction processiong. Other subjects may be covered as time allows.
 
Reading Material
Class handouts
(for reference) A Discipline of Multiprogramming, by Jayadev Misra, Springer-Verlag, 2001.
(for reference) Parallel Program Design: A Foundation, by K. Mani Chandy and Jayadev Misra, Addison-Wesley, 1988.
(for reference) Predicate Calculus and Program Semantics, by Edsger W. Dijkstra and Carel S. Scholten, Springer-Verlag, 1990.

 
Tests Three in-class tests will be given. All tests are open book and open notes. Your best test counts for 50% of the grade, the next best for 40%, and the worst one for 10%. Homeworks will be given; they will be discussed in the class and in the discussion sections, but they will not be graded. The tests will be modeled after the homeworks.

The 1st test will be given on 10/5.
The 2nd test will be given on 11/7.
The 3rd test will be given on 12/7.
 

Student Code of Conduct Please be familiar with the student code of conduct.