ECE 465 Spring 2025 Weekly Course Notes
<- back to syllabus
Classes will be decided week-to-week.
| Week(s) |
Week of |
Topic |
| 01 |
1/27 |
Intro; centralized vs distributed systems; development environment setup |
| 02 |
2/3 |
Multi-processing & network programming — Part 1 |
| 03 |
2/10 |
Multi-processing & network programming — Part 2 |
| 04 |
2/17 |
Multi-processing & network programming — Part 3 |
| 05 |
2/24 |
Containerization: Docker and Kubernetes |
| 06 |
3/3 |
DevOps and CI/CD |
| 07 |
3/10 |
Integrate application to infrastructure |
| 08 |
3/17 |
Distributed Architectures |
| 09 |
3/24 |
Communication and Coordination |
| 10 |
3/31 |
Consistency & Replication |
| 11 |
4/7 |
Fault Tolerance |
| 12 |
4/21 |
Security |
| 13 |
4/28 |
Deploying on k8s on cloud-based virtual bare metal nodes |
| 14 |
5/5 |
Deploying on k8s on cloud-based k8s |
| 15 |
5/12 |
Final individual projects due |
Follow the link above to the respective week’s materials below.
Topics
- Centralized computing and storage systems
- Distributed computing and storage systems
- Assessing centralized vs distributed systems along key feature characteristics
- Architecture
- Scalability
- Fault tolerance
- Complexity
- Cost
- Data Management
- Security
Table contrasting between centralized and distributed systems.
| Feature |
Centralized Systems |
Distributed Systems |
| Architecture |
Single process or machine |
Multiple processes or interconnected machines |
| Scalability |
Limited |
High |
| Fault tolerance |
Low |
High |
| Complexity |
Low |
High |
| Cost |
Can be lower initially |
Can be higher initially, but more cost-effective at scale |
| Data Management |
Simpler |
More complex |
| Security |
Single point of vulnerability |
Multiple points of vulnerability |
Software Installation
Setup your computer for this class
- Install Java 21 Development Kit (JDK); I prefer Amazon’s Corretto
- Install Apache Maven
- Install the following integrated development environment (Jetbrains IntelliJ - get full version with your student email; Visual Code)
- Install the following systems: Docker Desktop; Minikube (Kubernetes cluster for your computer); Helm
Homework Assignment
- Review our independent study our course’s syllabus. This course is to learn theory and immediately put it into practice building a distributed application (cloud service).
- Read “Basic Concepts You Need to Know about Building Large-Scale Distributed Systems”
- Read “The Free Lunch Is Over: A Fundamental Turn Toward Concurrency in Software”
- Sign up for the free electronic copy of the textbook “Distributed Systems - 4th Edition” by van Steen and Tanenbaum
- Read Chapter 1 of the textbook, pay close attention to the design goals.