Distributed Algorithms, 6.852

Fall 2003

Lecture: TR 9:30-11  (4-149)

Announcements | Staff | Book | Handouts | Grading | Schedule and Lecture Notes | 2001 Course Homepage (w/ lecture notes) |

Announcements

Staff:

Lecturer:  Prof. Nancy Lynch  lynch (at) theory.lcs.mit.edu NE43-366. Office Hours: After class and by appointment
TA:  Rodrigo Rodrigues  rodrigo (at) csail.mit.edu NE43-527. Office Hours: W4-6 (plus on alternate Tuesdays, before psets are due, 1-2)
Secretary:  Joanne Talbot  joanne (at) theory.lcs.mit.edu NE43-366. Phone: 617 253-6054

 

Book and Supplemental Bibliography:

The main source will be the book Distributed Algorithms,by Prof. Nancy Lynch. (fourth/fifth printing)

Consult  Corrections to the Second Printing of "Distributed Algorithms" if you have the second printing of the book.

Consult  Corrections to the Third Printing of "Distributed Algorithms" if you have the third (or second) printing of the book.

Please direct any typos you find or other comments about the book to Prof. Nancy Lynch.

Below are some links to places where you can buy the book online:
Distributed Algorithms

by Prof. Nancy Lynch

(fourth/fifth printing)
 

Handouts:

1. Course Description  Postscript
2. Tentative Course Schedule  Postscript Up-to-date version
3. Supplemental Bibliography  Postscript Supplemental bibliography links page
4. Homework Assignment 1, Part a  Postscript Due on Thursday, Sept. 18, in class.
5. Homework Assignment 1, Part b  Postscript Due on Thursday, Sept. 18, in class.
6. Albanian Generals  In the course cabinet.
7. Homework Assignment 2, Part a  Postscript Due on Thursday, Oct. 2, in class.
8. Homework Assignment 2, Part b  Postscript Due on Thursday, Oct. 2, in class.
9. Sample Solutions for Homework Assignment 1  In the course cabinet. (Graders Reports)
10. Homework Assignment 3, Part a  Postscript Due on Thursday, Oct. 16, in class.
11. Sample Solutions for Homework Assignment 2  In the course cabinet. (Graders Reports)
12. Homework Assignment 3, Part b  Postscript Due on Thursday, Oct. 16, in class.
13. Homework Assignment 4, Part a  Postscript Due on Thursday, Oct. 30, in class.
14. Homework Assignment 4, Part b  Postscript Due on Thursday, Oct. 30, in class.
15. Sample Solutions for Homework Assignment 3  In the course cabinet. (Graders Reports)
16. Homework Assignment 5, Part a  Postscript Due on Thursday, Nov. 13, in class.
17. Notes on Mutual Exclusion (by Maurice Herlihy and Nir Shavit) In the course cabinet.
18. Sample Solutions for Homework Assignment 4  In the course cabinet. (Graders Reports)
19. Notes on Concurrency (Herlihy and Shavit, chapters 3+4) In the course cabinet.
20. Homework Assignment 5, Part b  Postscript Due on Thursday, Nov. 13, in class.
21. Homework Assignment 6, Part a  Postscript Due on Tuesday, Dec. 2, in class.
21 1/2. Notes on Concurrency (Herlihy and Shavit, chapters 5+6) In the course cabinet.
22. Homework Assignment 6, Part b  Postscript Due on Tuesday, Dec. 2, in class.
23. Sample Solutions for Homework Assignment 5  In the course cabinet. (Graders Reports)
24. Homework Assignment 7  Postscript Due on Tuesday, Dec. 9, in class.
25. Sample Solutions for Homework Assignment 6  In the course cabinet. (Graders Reports)
26. Sample Solutions for Homework Assignment 7  In the course cabinet. (Graders Reports)

Grading:

Each student must participate in grading problem sets, probably just one, but maybe two depending on the size of the class. If you have not signed up to grade for a certain week, please do so by contacting Rodrigo (rodrigo@csail). Please check in the sign-up sheet below what weeks are available. We need at least five graders for each week.
 
 HW Grading Period   Graders 
1 Thr. 9/18   - Mon.   9/22   X   X   X   X   X 
2 Thr. 10/2   - Mon. 10/6   X   X   X  X  X
3 Thr. 10/16 - Mon. 10/20  X  X  X  X  X
4 Thr. 10/30   - Mon. 11/3  X  X  X  X  X
5 Thr. 11/13 - Mon. 11/17  X  X  X  X  X
6 Tue. 12/2   - Fri. 12/5  X  X  X  X  X
7 Tue. 12/9   - Fri. 12/12  X  X  -

LaTeX Packages:

 You may want to use the spec92.sty style file for typesetting your homework solutions in LaTeX. spec92.sty is Leslie Lamport's package that defines a spec environment for printing an ASCII specification. The environment is like verbatim, except that \ works as usual, and various abbreviations are defined--for example, [ ] for \Box and => for \Rightarrow. See comments in the file for info on how to use it.

We also provide a nice example of how to use this here.