pk.org: CS 417

CS 417 Syllabus

Spring 2026

week date topic
1 Jan 26 Introduction, fault tolerance, networking
2 Feb 2 Inter-process communication, RPC, distributed objects
3 Feb 9 Web services, clock synchronization, logical clocks
4 Feb 16 Group communication
5 Feb 23 Distributed Coordination & consensus
Exam 1
6 Mar 2 Distributed file systems
7 Mar 9 Peer-to-peer systems and distributed hash tables
- Mar 16 Spring Break
8 Mar 23 Distributed transactions, concurrency control
9 Mar 30 Distributed databases: Bigtable/HBase, Cassandra, Spanner
Exam 2
10 Apr 6 Distributed computing: MapReduce, BSP/Hama, Pregel/Giraph, Spark
11 Apr 13 Event streaming, Content delivery
12 Apr 20 Security in distributed systems
13 Apr 27 Cluster architectures
Exam 3
14 May 4 Distributed systems design, trends
15 Mon May 11(?) Final Exam (date TBD)

Go here to get lecture notes and other course documentation.

Note

The list of topics is subject to change without notice. This schedule is approximate as some topics may spill over to a successive lecture or recitation.

Rutgers CS Diversity and Inclusion Statement

Rutgers Computer Science Department is committed to creating a consciously anti-racist, inclusive community that welcomes diversity in various dimensions (e.g., race, national origin, gender, sexuality, disability status, class, or religious beliefs). We will not tolerate micro-aggressions and discrimination that creates a hostile atmosphere in the class and/or threatens the well-being of our students. We will continuously strive to create a safe learning environment that allows for the open exchange of ideas while also ensuring equitable opportunities and respect for all of us. Our goal is to maintain an environment where students, staff, and faculty can contribute without the fear of ridicule or intolerant or offensive language. If you witness or experience racism, discrimination micro-aggressions, or other offensive behavior, you are encouraged to bring it to the attention to the undergraduate program director, the graduate program director, or the department chair. You can also report it to the Bias Incident Reporting System.