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
Asad Khan
Consultation hours: By appointment
Mark Gleeson
Consultation hours: By appointment
Mehran Vahid
Consultation hours: By appointment
| 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 Mon 8-April-2013, 12PM (mid-day) |
| 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 (Theory) due on 20-May-2013, 12PM (mid-day). Assignment 2 In-lab assessments |
| 12 | Super Scalar Processing, Exam Revision | Assignment 2 In-lab assessments. |
| 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 learning system.
Examination (3 hours): 50%; In-semester assessment: 50%
| Assessment Task | Value | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment 1 | 15% | Mon 08-April-2013, 12PM |
| Assignment 2 | 25% | In-lab assessments week 11 and 12, Theory due Mon 20-May-2013, 12PM |
| Lab work assessments | 10% | Weekly submissions |
| Examination 1 | 50% | To be advised |
Faculty Policy - Unit Assessment Hurdles (http://www.infotech.monash.edu.au/resources/staff/edgov/policies/assessment-examinations/unit-assessment-hurdles.html)
Academic Integrity - Please see the Demystifying Citing and Referencing tutorial at http://lib.monash.edu/tutorials/citing/
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.
Monash Library Unit Reading List
http://readinglists.lib.monash.edu/index.html
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.
Resubmission of assignments, lab, and tutorial work will not be allowed.
Refer to the unit website.
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).
If Electronic Submission has been approved for your unit, please submit your work via the learning system for this unit, which you can access via links in the my.monash portal.
Please check with your lecturer before purchasing any Required Resources. Limited copies of 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.
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: www.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 http://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, resources and programs that enable you to save time and be more effective in your learning and research. Go to 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/.
For more information on Monash’s educational strategy, see:
www.monash.edu.au/about/monash-directions and on student evaluations, see: 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.
If you wish to view how previous students rated this unit, please go to
https://emuapps.monash.edu.au/unitevaluations/index.jsp
NB: Students who attend fewer than 80% of the lectures will need to rely on the reading list.
For Part 1: Parallel Computing Schemes and Software:
A.S. Tanenbaum, T. Austin: Structured Computer Organization, 6th Ed, Prentice Hall (PEARSON), 2012.
G.R. Andrews: Foundations of Multithreaded, Parallel and Distributed Programming, Addison-Wesley, 2000.
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.
W. Stallings: Computer Organization Architecture, 9th Ed, Prentice Hall (Pearson Hall), 2013.