Mohsen Ghaffari: Catalogue data in Spring Semester 2018 |
Name | Dr. Mohsen Ghaffari |
Field | Computer Science |
ghaffari@inf.ethz.ch | |
URL | https://people.inf.ethz.ch/gmohsen/ |
Department | Computer Science |
Relationship | Assistant Professor (Tenure Track) |
Number | Title | ECTS | Hours | Lecturers | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
227-0558-00L | Principles of Distributed Computing ![]() | 6 credits | 2V + 2U + 1A | R. Wattenhofer, M. Ghaffari | |
Abstract | We study the fundamental issues underlying the design of distributed systems: communication, coordination, fault-tolerance, locality, parallelism, self-organization, symmetry breaking, synchronization, uncertainty. We explore essential algorithmic ideas and lower bound techniques. | ||||
Objective | Distributed computing is essential in modern computing and communications systems. Examples are on the one hand large-scale networks such as the Internet, and on the other hand multiprocessors such as your new multi-core laptop. This course introduces the principles of distributed computing, emphasizing the fundamental issues underlying the design of distributed systems and networks: communication, coordination, fault-tolerance, locality, parallelism, self-organization, symmetry breaking, synchronization, uncertainty. We explore essential algorithmic ideas and lower bound techniques, basically the "pearls" of distributed computing. We will cover a fresh topic every week. | ||||
Content | Distributed computing models and paradigms, e.g. message passing, shared memory, synchronous vs. asynchronous systems, time and message complexity, peer-to-peer systems, small-world networks, social networks, sorting networks, wireless communication, and self-organizing systems. Distributed algorithms, e.g. leader election, coloring, covering, packing, decomposition, spanning trees, mutual exclusion, store and collect, arrow, ivy, synchronizers, diameter, all-pairs-shortest-path, wake-up, and lower bounds | ||||
Lecture notes | Available. Our course script is used at dozens of other universities around the world. | ||||
Literature | Lecture Notes By Roger Wattenhofer. These lecture notes are taught at about a dozen different universities through the world. Distributed Computing: Fundamentals, Simulations and Advanced Topics Hagit Attiya, Jennifer Welch. McGraw-Hill Publishing, 1998, ISBN 0-07-709352 6 Introduction to Algorithms Thomas Cormen, Charles Leiserson, Ronald Rivest. The MIT Press, 1998, ISBN 0-262-53091-0 oder 0-262-03141-8 Disseminatin of Information in Communication Networks Juraj Hromkovic, Ralf Klasing, Andrzej Pelc, Peter Ruzicka, Walter Unger. Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2005, ISBN 3-540-00846-2 Introduction to Parallel Algorithms and Architectures: Arrays, Trees, Hypercubes Frank Thomson Leighton. Morgan Kaufmann Publishers Inc., San Francisco, CA, 1991, ISBN 1-55860-117-1 Distributed Computing: A Locality-Sensitive Approach David Peleg. Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM), 2000, ISBN 0-89871-464-8 | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | Course pre-requisites: Interest in algorithmic problems. (No particular course needed.) | ||||
252-4220-00L | A Taste of Research: Algorithms and Combinatorics ![]() ![]() Number of participants limited to 16. | 2 credits | 2S | B. Gärtner, A. Steger, M. Ghaffari | |
Abstract | Students work together with lecturers on open problems in algorithms and combinatorics. | ||||
Objective | The goal is to learn and practice important research techniques: literature search, understanding and presenting research papers, developing ideas in the group, testing of conjectures with the computer, writing down results. | ||||
Content | Work on original research papers and open problems in the areas of algorithms and combinatorics. | ||||
Lecture notes | Not available. | ||||
Literature | Will be announced in the seminar. | ||||
Prerequisites / Notice | Passed exam in Algorithms, Probability, and Computing. |