Modern computer systems contain parallelism in both hardware and software. This unit covers parallelism in both general purpose and application specific computer architectures and the programming paradigms that allow parallelism to be exploited in software. The unit examines both shared memory and message passing paradigms in both hardware and software; concurrency, multithreading and synchronicity; parallel, clustered and distributed supercomputing models, languages and software tools and development environments. Students will program in these paradigms.
2 hrs lectures/wk, 2 hr laboratory/wk, 1 hr tutorial/wk
This unit is offered to on-campus students. Workload commitments per week are:
FIT4001, CSE4333
Carlo Kopp
Consultation hours: By appointment
Examination: 50%; In-semester assessment: 50%
| Assessment Task | Value | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment 1 | 15% | Friday 30 March 2012, 4PM |
| Assignment 2 | 25% | In-lab assessments week 11 and 12, Theory due Friday 25 May 2012, 4PM |
| Lab work assessments | 10% | Weekly submissions |
| Examination 1 | 50% | To be advised |
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For more information on Monash's educational strategy, and on student evaluations, see:
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http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/quality/student-evaluation-policy.html
Previous student feedback shows that most students, typically 50 percent or more, rated this unit very highly. There are no significant changes planned based on feedback results.
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Please check with your lecturer before purchasing any Required Resources. Prescribed texts are available for you to borrow in the library, and prescribed software is available in student labs.
The standard operating environment provided in FIT computer labs is considered adequate for most purposes. However, most of the tutorial exercises require the use of an open source Linux environment, which is provided in the assigned FIT computer laboratory.
Software may be:
Portable personal computer and access to a broadband Internet connection.
| Week | Activities | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Unit Introduction on Moodle | No formal assessment or activities are undertaken in week 0 |
| 1 | Unit Introduction; Distributed Systems Lecture (no lab or tute) | |
| 2 | Inter Process Communications; Remote Procedure Calls | Weekly lab work assessments begin in week 2 |
| 3 | Message Passing Library | |
| 4 | Synchronisation, MUTEX, Deadlocks | |
| 5 | Election Algorithms, Distributed Transactions, Concurrency Control | Assignment 1 due Friday March 30, 4PM |
| 6 | Faults, Distributed Consensus, Security, Parallel Computing | |
| 7 | Parallel Computing Alternatives | |
| 8 | Instruction Level Parallelism | |
| 9 | Vector Architecture | |
| 10 | Data Parallel Architectures, SIMD Architectures | |
| 11 | Introduction to MIMD, Distributed Memory MIMD Architectures | Assignment 2 in-lab assessments |
| 12 | Super Scalar Processing, Exam Revision | Assignment 2 in-lab assessments. Assignment 2 (theory) due Friday 25 May, 4PM |
| SWOT VAC | No formal assessment is undertaken in SWOT VAC | |
| Examination period | LINK to Assessment Policy: http://policy.monash.edu.au/policy-bank/ academic/education/assessment/ assessment-in-coursework-policy.html |
*Unit Schedule details will be maintained and communicated to you via your MUSO (Blackboard or Moodle) learning system.
Faculty Policy - Unit Assessment Hurdles (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/staff/edgov/policies/assessment-examinations/unit-assessment-hurdles.html)
The work will be assessed on the basis of the quality of the write-up (e.g. easy to read, logical and systematic presentation of concepts, formatting, figures, tables), relevance and accuracy of information, and literature search.
Detailed marking guide will be provided with the assessment. As a general guide to assessing the programming tasks:
The assessment will be based on the demonstration of work during the lab and evidence of learning in the weekly submissions.
The tutor will monitor individual contributions to the group when allocating marks to members of the group
It is a University requirement (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/conduct/plagiarism-procedures.html) for students to submit an assignment coversheet for each assessment item. Faculty Assignment coversheets can be found at http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/forms/. Please check with your Lecturer on the submission method for your assignment coversheet (e.g. attach a file to the online assignment submission, hand-in a hard copy, or use an online quiz).
Submission must be made by the due date otherwise penalties will be enforced.
You must negotiate any extensions formally with your campus unit leader via the in-semester special consideration process: http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/equity/special-consideration.html.
Students can expect assignments to be returned within two weeks of the submission date or after receipt, whichever is later.
Resubmission of assignments, lab, and tutorial work will not be allowed.
Refer to the unit website.
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You can find Monash's Education Policies at:
http://policy.monash.edu.au/policy-bank/academic/education/index.html
Key educational policies include:
The University provides many different kinds of support services for you. Contact your tutor if you need advice and see the range of services available at www.monash.edu.au/students. For Sunway see http://www.monash.edu.my/Student-services, and for South Africa see http://www.monash.ac.za/current/
The Monash University Library provides a range of services and resources that enable you to save time and be more effective in your learning and research. Go to http://www.lib.monash.edu.au or the library tab in my.monash portal for more information. At Sunway, visit the Library and Learning Commons at http://www.lib.monash.edu.my/. At South Africa visit http://www.lib.monash.ac.za/.
Academic support services may be available for students who have a disability or medical condition. Registration with the Disability Liaison Unit is required. Further information is available as follows:
Reference Material
For Part 1: Parallel Computing Schemes and Software:
G.R. Andrews: Foundations of Multithreaded, Parallel and Distributed Programming, Addison-Wesley, 2000.
J. Magee and J. Kramer: Concurrency: State models & Java Programming; John-Wiley & Sons, 2006.
I.T. Foster: Designing and Building Parallel Programs, Addison-Wesley, 1995.
M. Maekawa, A.E. Oldehoeft, R.R. Oldehoeft: Operating Systems Advanced Concepts, Benjamin/Cummings, 1987.
For Part 2: Parallel Distributed Computing Architectures:
Advanced Computer Architectures: A Design Space Approach, Sima, Fountain and Kacsuk , Addison Wesley Publishers.