header image

Home >

Masters Programme in Advanced Computer Science

Advanced Distributed Systems Module

skip menu
Masters programme information

Week Commencing 8th October 2007
The overall aim of the course is to provide students with an in-depth appreciation of the range of modern middleware technologies, with emphasis on recent developments in areas such as mobile and multimedia computing.

Course objectives

The course has the following key objectives:
  • To introduce the fundamental concepts underpinning modern distributed systems and associated middleware platforms, including distributed objects and component-based software development.
  • To introduce the range of middleware platforms and technologies available both in the market-place, and also under development in R&D labs.
  • To provide an in-depth understanding of CORBA, including the ability to program in CORBA.
  • To enable students to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different technologies, particularly in the face of the emerging challenges such as mobility, multimedia, and real-time programming.
  • To provide an introduction to reflective middleware, and it's potential in terms of offering more configurable and re-configurable software solutions.

Syllabus

  1. Fundamentals of Middleware
    Introduction to Distributed Systems: Definition and motivation; potential problems; the client-server paradigm; 2 vs 3-tier computing; models of interaction; focus on RPC; alternative approaches. Middleware Standards and Technologies: What is middleware; different styles of middleware; focus on distributed object technology; case study: RM-ODP; from objects to components; case study: Enterprise Java Beans.
  2. CORBA and CORBA Programming
    Introduction to CORBA: What is the OMG? The Object Management Architecture (OMA) and the Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA); focus on the ORB; the principal concepts of CORBA; highlights of CORBA v3; programming in CORBA with C++; extended programming example. Programming in CORBA: Practical programming in CORBA with C++ using the TAO ORB.
  3. The Challenge of Mobility (Half-Day)
    Mobility and Middleware: Introduction to mobile computing; mobility and adaptation; mobile middleware; from mobile computing to ubiquitous computing; a brief look at Jini; case studies from research at Lancaster.
  4. The Challenge of Multimedia and Real-time Programming/ Reflective Middleware
    Multimedia/ Real-time Middleware:Multimedia requirements; multimedia and middleware; case study: Sumo and RM-ODP; real-time requirements; real-time middleware; case study: RT CORBA.
    Reflective Middleware: Introduction to computational reflection; reflection and object-oriented systems; reflective languages and systems reflective middleware; case study: Open ORB.
  5. Mini-conference on Advanced Middleware Platforms
    Student-led mini-conference on the topic of advanced distributed system platforms; discussion on future research directions in distributed systems.

Assessment

Assessment is by coursework only (100%).
The coursework consists of participation in and writing up of active learning sessions, distributed systems programming and also the presentation of a paper in the course mini-conference. The programming work is based on the CORBA distributed systems platform and assumes a familiarity with or willingness to learn the C family of languages.


Recommended Reading

Books:
  • Coulouris, Dollimore, Kindberg, Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design, 3rd Edition, Addison Wesley, 1994.
  • Henning, Vinoski, Advance CORBA Programming with C++, Addison-Wesley, 1999.
  • Emmerich, Engineering Distributed Objects, Wiley, 2000.
  • Szyperski, Component Software: Beyond Object-Oriented Programming, Addison-Wesley, 1998.
  • Steinmetz, Nahrstedt, Multimedia: Computing, Communication & Application, Prentice Hall, 1995.
  • Blair, Stefani, Open Distributed Processing and Multimedia, Addison-Wesley, 1998.

A list of other papers and web resources will also be provided


2007/08 course information

Date: Week commencing 8th October 2007
Lecturers: Prof Gordon Blair and Dr Geoff Coulson

Available as an 1 week intensive short course. Please see the short courses information page.