UnitLevel 3Undergraduate

FIT3142 Distributed computing

Faculty of Information Technology

FIT3142 Distributed computing is a level 3, 6-credit-point, undergraduate unit from the Faculty of Information Technology, offered in 2022 in Semester 2 at Clayton. It needs FIT2100, (FIT4165 or FIT3165) and (FIT3159 or FIT1047).

Credit points
6
Offered in 2022
Semester 2
Clayton
Assessment
No exam
3 tasks
Workload
144 hours
per semester

The 2027 handbook has no page for FIT3142. This is its 2022 entry, the latest one.

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Requisites

Overview

Modern computer systems rely increasingly on distributed computing mechanisms, implemented often as clusters, web services, grids and clouds. Distributed computing systems can provide seamless (or web-like) access to a variety of networked resources, e.g. processing cores, large data stores and information repositories, expensive instruments, high-speed links, sensor networks, and multimedia services for a wide range of applications. This unit provides foundation knowledge and understanding of the basic mechanisms required to implement distributed computing systems, especially clouds, grids, web services and clusters. Topics covered include: Introduction to parallel and distributed computing mechanisms, concurrency and synchronisation, monitors, deadlocks, concurrent program analysis, computational and service-oriented grids, clusters and clouds. Distributed applications, and their performance and reliability in relation to processor and network performance constraints.

Offerings in 2022

Teaching periodCampusMode
Second semesterClaytonOn campus

Assessment

  • Laboratory WorkOtherThreshold hurdle
    25%
  • Tutorial ExercisesOtherThreshold hurdle
    15%
  • Scheduled final assessment (2 hours and 10 minutes)Threshold hurdle
    60%

Learning outcomes

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

  1. 1

    Analyse and evaluate interprocess communications in networks, and associated programming interfaces;

  2. 2

    Analyse and evaluate remote procedure call and remote object request broker mechanisms in distributed systems;

  3. 3

    Analyse and model basic problems in distributed computing, especially in relation to concurrency, parallelism, synchronisation, deadlocks, and safety properties;

  4. 4

    Analyse and evaluate differences between various distributed computing models and widely used distributed computing schemes;

  5. 5

    Analyse, evaluate and model basic functional and performance concepts in distributed systems and identify frequent causes of performance problems in distributed applications;

  6. 6

    Analyse and model basic software and hardware reliability problems in distributed systems and identify frequent causes of reliability problems in distributed applications;

  7. 7

    Analyse and evaluate some of the enabling technologies e.g. high-speed links, for building computer clusters, distributed storage systems, grids and clouds;

  8. 8

    Analyse and evaluate the operating principles of the cloud computing, grid computing, clustering, and web services middleware used to implement large distributed systems, including basic security mechanisms;

  9. 9

    Analyse and model in application scalability in distributed systems, and criteria for porting applications to distributed systems;

  10. 10

    Implement programs using common distributed computing programming interfaces, including sockets, and some higher level APIs.

Workload and teaching

  • Lectures24 hours
  • Laboratories22 hours
  • Tutorials12 hours
  • Teaching approachActive learning

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled online and face to face learning activities and independent study. Independent study may include associated reading and preparation for scheduled activities. The unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning and online engagement. Labs start from Week 2.

Learning resources

Technology resources

While laboratory machines running Linux will be provided, students are encouraged to install Linux on their own computer(s).

Where it fits

FIT3142 is part of 4 areas of study in the 2022 handbook.

Contacts

Chief Examiners
Charith Kohomban Wickrama Jayasekara

Common questions

What are the prerequisites for FIT3142?

You need FIT2100, (FIT4165 or FIT3165) and (FIT3159 or FIT1047) before you enrol.

When is FIT3142 offered?

In 2022, FIT3142 runs in Semester 2 at Clayton.

How much work is FIT3142?

The handbook expects about 144 hours of study across the semester. No students have rated its difficulty yet.

Does FIT3142 have an exam?

No. FIT3142 has 3 assessment tasks and no exam.

Which majors and minors include FIT3142?

FIT3142 is part of Advanced computer science; Computational science; Computer networks and security; and Software engineering.

More details

Credit points
6
Level
3
Study level
Undergraduate
Faculty
Faculty of Information Technology
Type
Coursework
EFTSL
0.125
Student contribution
SCA Band 2
Study abroad
Available
Handbook years
202020212022