This unit focuses on the design and programming techniques essential for developing distributed software systems and applications - with Java as the teaching language. The unit presents concurrent programming primitives and concepts for distributed systems. The unit also focuses on application of concurrent techniques in distributed system designs. Programming and implementation issues and techniques of distributed applications are studied. Enabling techniques for building distributed systems are analyzed and evaluated. Distributed Software Patterns are presented. The unit also includes case studies of distributed programming paradigms and their applications (e.g. JINI, JavaSpaces).
2 hrs lectures/wk, 2 hrs laboratories/wk
Student workload commitments are:
You will need to allocate up to 5 hours per week in some weeks.
Recommended knowledge: Some exposure to multithreading. Knowledge of all Java language constructs such as loops, conditionals, methods, classes, inheritance and core Java packages. Use of O/O models such as UML diagrams.
Chris Ling
Michael Smith
Contact hours: To be advised
At the completion of this unit students will:
Examination (3 hours): 50%, In-semester assessment: 50%
| Assessment Task | Value | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| Diagnostic Quiz | 0% (Hurdle) | Week 1 Labs |
| Assignment 1 | 25% | Week 6 - date to be advised in the assignment specification. |
| Assignment 2 | 25% | Week 12 - date to be advised in assignment specification. |
| Examination 1 | 50% | To be advised |
Monash is committed to excellence in education and regularly seeks feedback from students, employers and staff. One of the key formal ways students have to provide feedback is through SETU, Student Evaluation of Teacher and Unit. The University's student evaluation policy requires that every unit is evaluated each year. Students are strongly encouraged to complete the surveys. The feedback is anonymous and provides the Faculty with evidence of aspects that students are satisfied and areas for improvement.
For more information on Monash's educational strategy, and on student evaluations, see:
http://www.monash.edu.au/about/monash-directions/directions.html
http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/quality/student-evaluation-policy.html
If you wish to view how previous students rated this unit, please go to
https://emuapps.monash.edu.au/unitevaluations/index.jsp
| Week | Date* | Activities | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 21/02/11 | No formal assessment or activities are undertaken in week 0 | |
| 1 | 28/02/11 | Introduction, Threads | Week 1 Labs - Diagnostic Quiz (Hurdle) |
| 2 | 07/03/11 | Architecture, TCP/IP, Sockets | |
| 3 | 14/03/11 | Protocol Design | |
| 4 | 21/03/11 | State Transitions, Half-Object Plus Protocol, Structured Data Formats | |
| 5 | 28/03/11 | General Security, Java Security | |
| 6 | 04/04/11 | HTTP, HTTP and Java | Assignment 1 due |
| 7 | 11/04/11 | RMI | |
| 8 | 18/04/11 | CORBA | |
| Mid semester break | |||
| 9 | 02/05/11 | Web Services | |
| 10 | 09/05/11 | Mobile Java | |
| 11 | 16/05/11 | Jini | |
| 12 | 23/05/11 | JavaSpaces, JMS, JXTA | Assignment 2 due |
| 30/05/11 | SWOT VAC | No formal assessment is undertaken in SWOT VAC | |
*Please note that these dates may only apply to Australian campuses of Monash University. Off-shore students need to check the dates with their unit leader.
To pass a unit which includes an examination as part of the assessment a student must obtain:
If a student does not achieve 40% or more in the unit examination or the unit non-examination total assessment, and the total mark for the unit is greater than 50% then a mark of no greater than 49-N will be recorded for the unit
Demonstrated ability to implement complete and appropriate solutions to prescribed problems.
This is an individual assignment and is to be entirely your own work.
Assessment for this assignment is by interview. You will be asked to demonstrate your system at an interview in the week following the submission date. At the interview you can also expect to be asked to explain your system, your code, your design, discuss design decisions and alternatives and modify your code/system as required. Marks will not be awarded for any section of code or functionality that a student cannot explain satisfactorily. (The marker may delete excessive comments in code before a student is asked to explain that code).
Interview times will be arranged in the tutorial labs immediately preceding the submission deadline. It is your responsibility to attend the lab and obtain an interview time. Students who do not attend an interview will receive 0 marks for the assignment.
Further detailed assesssment criteria will be available with the assignment specification
This is an individual assignment and is to be entirely your own work.
Assessment for this assignment is by interview. You will be asked to demonstrate your system at an interview in the week following the submission date. At the interview you can also expect to be asked to explain your system, your code, your design, discuss design decisions and alternatives and modify your code/system as required. Marks will not be awarded for any section of code or functionality that a student cannot explain satisfactorily. (The marker may delete excessive comments in code before a student is asked to explain that code).
Interview times will be arranged in the tutorial labs immediately preceding the submission deadline. It is your responsibility to attend the lab and obtain an interview time. Students who do not attend an interview will receive 0 marks for the assignment.
Further detailed assesssment criteria will be available with the assignment specification
Assignment coversheets are available via
"Student Forms" on the Faculty website: http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/student/forms/
You MUST submit a completed coversheet with all assignments, ensuring
that the plagiarism declaration section is signed.
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.
Monash has educational policies, procedures and guidelines, which are designed to ensure that staff and students are aware of the University's academic standards, and to provide advice on how they might uphold them.
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 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. Students who have a disability or medical condition are welcome to contact the Disability Liaison Unit to discuss academic support services. Disability Liaison Officers (DLOs) visit all Victorian campuses on a regular basis
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