The course takes the form of a seminar based on a selection of papers that either have strong impact on distributed systems today, or explore novel ideas that may be important in the future. Subjects will cover important aspects of distributed systems such as peer-to-peer, sensor networks, data centers, cloud computing, etc. Also, modern distributed systems such as next-generation Web-based systems and wireless sensor networks will have their place.
ATDS 2012 will start on Wednesday September 5th at 9:00am in room P624. Please make sure to attend it!
The course in a nutshell
- Code: 405022
- Aim: The goal of this class is for students to develop an in-depth understanding of classical and recent research in distributed systems, and practice their presentation and argumentation skills. The class is restricted only to PDCS students so that individual guidance can be offered.
- Students: This course is intended only for students from the masters degree in Parallel and Distributed Computer Systems. Students following other curricula cannot participate. Sorry about that!
- Lecturer: Guillaume Pierre.
- Lectures: Tuesdays 13:30-16:15 room P624 and Fridays 13:30-16:15 room M616.
- Credits: This class is credited with 6 ECTS. However, do expect to work hard to get them
- Grading: You will be graded with respect to your presentation, your position paper, and your active participation to the seminar. Each of these aspects will account for 1/3 of the final grade.
The course in detail
The course will be organized as a seminar. Each week, two students will give a presentation about at least 3 papers that they have read. Other students are supposed to have read one of these papers and to ask sensible questions.
Each student must select one primary paper out of a list of papers. In addition, the student must select and read at least two secondary papers that belong to the same topic. He/she must give a 25-minutes synthetic presentation about these papers. A 25-minutes discussion follows each presentation to discuss/compare/criticize the issues that have been presented.
Presenting students must inform the teacher of their choice of secondary papers at least one week before the presentation. If students know interesting papers that they would like to include as secondary papers, these papers must be approved by the teacher first.
Other students must read the primary paper before the presentation. They are not obliged to read any secondary paper. To make sure this is being done, and to contribute to a lively discussion, each student must send by email one question about the primary paper to be presented to the teacher. Questions must be sent at least 24 hours before the presentation.
Attendance to the class is mandatory.
At the end of the semester, each student must write a 4-pages long position paper about one of the topics that has been discussed in class. This can be about the topic that the student has presented, or about any other topic that has been discussed in class.