Authorised by Academic Registrar, April 1996
Objectives At the completion of this subject students should have a working knowledge of the communication primitives required for distributed systems; understand the concepts underlying the building of distributed applications systems; understand the design of distributed operating systems and file systems; and appreciate the need for the use of distributed technology in the design and construction of appropriate types of computing systems.
Synopsis This subject aims to provide students with a knowledge of the architectural and communication issues involved in the design of distributed computing systems. Topics taught include the concept of a distributed system; heterogeneous computing environments; communication mechanisms for programming distributed systems; primitives for distributed computing in heterogeneous systems; building distributed systems with RPCs; asynchronous remote operations execution in distributed systems; distributed operating systems with some example systems; distributed file systems with examples; languages for distributed systems development.
Assessment Examination (2 hours): 50% + Two practical assignments: 50%