| Prof. Rebecca Wright |
| Fall 2007 |
| Time: | Mondays, 3:20pm - 6:20pm |
| Location: | Hill Center, Room 254 |
| Teaching Assisant: | Imdadullah Khan |
| TA's Office hours: | Wednesdays 4-6pm in Hill 405 |
| Professor's Office hours: | e-mail to set up an appointment |
This course coveres the design and analysis of distributed algorithms,
including investigation of impossibility results showing when some
problems are unsolvable. Topics covered include: models of synchronous
and asynchronous distributed computing; fault models including crash
failures and malicious failures, and communication models including
message passing and shared memory systems; distributed algorithms and
impossiblity results for problems such as distributed consensus,
Byzantine agreement, the Dining Philosophers problem, and mutual
exclusion. If time permits, additional topics may include clock
synchronization and secure multiparty computation.
Prerequisite: 16:198:513 Design and Analysis of Data
Structures and Algorithms.
| Top 3 homework assignments | 40% |
| Midterm exam | 25% |
| Final exam | 25% |
| Class participation | 10% |
Assignments are due at the start of class on their due dates. Late assignments will not be accepted. All exceptions must be cleared in advance.
All reading refers to the Lynch text unless otherwise specified.
| Date | Topics | Assigned Reading Material |
|---|---|---|
| Mon, Sept 10 | Introduction, Synchronous networks: Leader Election | Chapters 1-3 |
| Mon, Sept 17 | Synchronous networks: Distributed Consensus | Chapter 6 |
| Mon, Sept 24 | Guest lecturer: Michael Engling Synchronous networks: Distributed Consensus, cont'd. Homework 1 due |
|
| Mon, Oct 1 | Asynchronous shared memory model: Mutual Exclusion | Chapters 8-10 |
| Mon, Oct 8 | Asynchronous shared memory model: Resource Allocation (The Dining Philosopher's Problem) |
Chapter 11 |
| Mon, Oct 15 | Asynchronous shared memory model: Distributed Consensus
Homework 2 due |
Chapter 12 |
| Mon, Oct 22 | MIDTERM EXAM (closed book) | |
| Mon, Oct 29 | Asynchronous shared memory model: Distributed Consensus, cont'd. | |
| Mon, Nov 5 | Asynchronous shared memory model: Atomic Objects | Chapter 13 |
| Mon, Nov 12 | Asynchronous shared memory model: Atomic Objects, cont'd.
Homework 3 due |
|
| Mon, Nov 19 | Asynchronous distributed computing: Shared Memory vs. Networks | Chapters 14 and 17 |
| Mon, Nov 26 | Asynchronous networks with process failures | Chapter 21, sections 21.1-21.3 only |
| Mon, Dec 3 | Additional topics if time permits
Homework 4 due |
Reading TBD |
| Mon, Dec 10 | FINAL EXAM (open book) |
|
Last updated 9/21/07 by rebecca.wright (*a*t*) rutgers.edu |
Copyright © 2007 Rebecca N. Wright |