CSCI.6500 Distributed Computing over the Internet-- Spring 2008

Instructor: Carlos Varela
Office: Lally 308, x6912
Office Hours: Mo, Th 11:30am-12:30pm; or by appointment
Meeting Place: Low 4040
Meeting Hours: Mo, Th 10-11:20am
Home page: http://www.cs.rpi.edu/academics/courses/spring08/dci/

Course Objectives

This course studies theoretical foundations---namely process calculi, actors, join calculus, and mobile ambients---and practical issues in the design and implementation of programming languages for concurrent and distributed computing. We compare communication and synchronization aspects in actor-, process-, and object-oriented concurrent programming models. We review current research on coordination, mobility, naming, security, fault-tolerance, and scalability in the context of distributed computing over the Internet.

Pre-requisites

CSCI.4430 and CSCI.4220, or equivalent, or permission of instructor. The student should be familiar with at least one high-level programming language and basic network programming concepts. In particular, this course will assume familiarity with Java and programming with TCP/IP sockets. Knowledge of programming language semantics and lambda-calculus would be helpful but is not mandatory.

Course Contents

Models of Concurrent and Distributed Computing

Pi-Calculus
Actors
Mobile Ambients
Join Calculus

Programming Languages and Frameworks

Oz
SALSA
Jocaml

Research Topics

Coordination
Mobility
Naming
Scalability
Heterogeneity
Security

Tentative Course Syllabus

Date	Topic	Grade
01/14	Course Overview. Introduction to Distributed Computing over the Internet Part I -- Models/Theory.
01/17	Pi-Calculus - Introduction
01/24	Pi-Calculus - Operational Semantics
01/28	Pi-Calculus - Bisimilarity and Congruence
01/31	No lecture
02/04	Actors - Introduction
02/07	Actors - Operational Semantics
02/11	Actors - Expression Equivalence
02/14	Mobile Ambients
02/19	Join Calculus
02/21	Introduction to Distributed Computing over the Internet Part II -- Programming Languages and Frameworks
03/03	Oz Concurrency, 1.oz-- Programming Assignment 1 Due 03/21	20%
03/06	Distributed Oz, 2.oz
03/17	Oz Concurrent and Distributed Programming Techniques
03/20	SALSA Concurrency, examples.zip -- Programming Assignment 2 Due 04/04	20%
03/24	SALSA Distribution and Mobility, dist-examples.zip
03/27	SALSA Concurrent and Distributed Programming Techniques
03/31	Objective CAML
04/03	JOCAML
04/07	Introduction to Distributed Computing over the Internet Part III -- Research Topics
04/10	Selected Paper Critiques and Presentations by Students -- Papers Selections Due 03/07	20%
04/14	No lecture
04/17	No lecture
04/21	Selected Paper Critiques and Presentations by Students
04/24	Selected Paper Critiques and Presentations by Students
04/28	Final Project/Paper Presentations-- Proposals Due 03/28	40%
	Class Participation Extra Credit	5%

Reading Material -- Part I

An Introduction to the Pi-Calculus (PS) (PDF) by Joachim Parrow. pp. 3-14, 25-28, 39-42.

In Handbook of Process Algebra, ed. Bergstra, Ponse, Smolka, pages 479-543, Elsevier 2001.
URL: http://www.it.kth.se/~joachim/intro.ps

A Foundation for Actor Computation (PS) (PDF) by Agha, Mason, Smith, Talcott. pp. 1-27.

In Journal of Functional Programming, 1996.
URL: http://osl.cs.uiuc.edu/Papers/actor-semantics.ps

Mobile Ambients (PS) (PDF) by Cardelli and Gordon.

In Theoretical Computer Science, special issue on Coordination, D. Le Métayer Editor. Vol 240/1, July 2000, pages 177-213, Elsevier.
URL: http://research.microsoft.com/Users/luca/Papers/MobileAmbients.US.ps

Join Calculus (PS) (PDF) by Fournet and Gonthier.

"The reflexive chemical abstract machine and the join-calculus". In Proceedings Principles Of Programming Languages 1996.
URL: http://pauillac.inria.fr/~fournet/papers/popl-96.ps.gz

Software Links, Papers, and Tutorials -- Part II

Research Papers -- Part III

Students will critique and present selected papers from recent journal and conference publications, including but not limited to:

Transactions on Internet Technology.
Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems.
Annual Symposium on Principles of Programming Languages.
Object Oriented Programming Systems Languages and Applications
Coordination Conference Proceedings in Lecture Notes in Computer Science Volumes 1061, 1282, 1594, and 1906.
Middleware Conference Proceedings in Lecture Notes in Computer Science Volumes 1795 and 2218.
International World Wide Web Conferences
IEEE Internet Computing

You may also search papers in Google Scholar, or ACM's Digital Library.

Paper critique and presentation guidelines.

Academic Integrity

The Rensselaer Handbook of Student Rights and Responsibilities defines several types of academic dishonesty, all of which are applicable to this class. Students found in violation of academic dishonesty policies will receive a failing grade for this course.

Please contact the instructor if there is any question about academic (dis)honesty.

Last Updated -- January 14, 2008.