58260 - Distributed Systems

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course, students got acquainted with the fundamental issues of distributed systems, the computational models capturing their essence, and the technologies currently helping facing them in the most systematic and effective way. In particular, students become familiar with the fittest solutions, technologies, architectures, and methodologies to design distributed systems, and is capable of

• devising out the most critical aspects of distributed systems coming from physical distribution
• determining the most proper methodological approaches
• selecting the fittest technologies for implementing the solutions detected

Course contents

Case Studies

• CAP Theorem
• Distributed Consensus
• Distributed Ledger Technology: Blockchain as Middleware

General Issues of Distributed Systems

• Roots of Distributed Systems: Space, Time & Computation
• Goals & Issues of Distributed Systems
• Sorts of Distributed Systems
• Modelling Distributed Systems: (a) Process Algebra, (b) Software & System Architectures
• Features of Distribution
• Computing with Time
• Computing with Space

Models and Technologies for Distributed Systems

• Agents & Multi-Agent Systems
• Cloud, Fog, Edge Computing
• Web Services

Readings/Bibliography

The bibliography is made available through the course web site.

Teaching methods

• Lessons with slides
• Examples discussed and built by the teachers
  
• Lab activity

Assessment methods

• Oral discussion of an individual/group project

Teaching tools

• Web site of the teacher
• Web page of the course with slides (PDF), other materials and useful links

Links to further information

https://apice.unibo.it/xwiki/bin/view/Courses/Series/Sd/

Office hours

See the website of Andrea Omicini

See the website of Giovanni Ciatto