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. This unit examines both shared memory and message passing paradigms in both hardware and software; concurrency, multithreading and synchronicity; parallel, clustered and distributed supercomputing models and languages. Students will program in these paradigms. This unit draws on units in distributed databases and grid computing. It will also cover the technology and application of cloud computing with particular reference to programming frameworks (e.g. MapReduce, Hadoop etc).
Minimum total expected workload equals 12 hours per week comprising:
(a.) Contact hours for on-campus students:
(b.) Additional requirements (all students):
See also Unit timetable information
Asad I. Khan
Consultation hours: By appointment via e-mail: Asad.Khan@monash.edu
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| Week | Activities | Assessment |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Unit Introduction on web (no lecture). Register for lab sessions | No formal assessment or activities are undertaken in week 0 |
| 1 | Introduction to parallel patterns, distributed systems, and important metrics | No lab |
| 2 | Big data and cloud computing | Weekly lab-group submissions from Week 3 to Week 10 (both Weeks inclusive). Lab0: Programming and OS Primer (not graded) |
| 3 | Map-reduce applications | Lab1: Hadoop system |
| 4 | GPU processing model and programming with Open CL | Lab2: Hadoop application |
| 5 | Parallel processing models and languages | Lab3: GPU Programming |
| 6 | Message Passage Library (MPI) | Lab4: Open MP Exercise |
| 7 | Interprocess communication and remote procedure call | Lab5: MPI Data Structures 1 |
| 8 | Synchronisation, MUTEX, Deadlocks | Lab6: MPI Data Structures 2 |
| 9 | Election Algorithms, Distributed Transactions, Concurrency Control | Lab7: MPI Data Structures 3 |
| 10 | Faults, Distributed Consensus, and Security | Lab8: MPI Master Slave |
| 11 | Instruction Level Parallelism | (1) Assignment project written submission in Moodle is due on Mon 18/May, 2PM. (2) Assignment project code demonstrations during Week 11 labs (attendance is essential) |
| 12 | Vector and superscaler architectures | Assignment project code demonstrations during Week 12 labs (attendance is essential) |
| SWOT VAC | No formal assessment is undertaken during 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): 60%, In-semester assessment: 40%
| Assessment Task | Value | Due Date |
|---|---|---|
| Assignment Project | 25% | Code demonstrations during Week 11 or 12 labs. Assignment Project write-up due in Week 11, Mon 18/May, 2PM |
| The assessed laboratory/tutorial work | 12% | Weekly group submissions Week 3 to Week 10 (both Weeks inclusive) |
| Lecture feedback | 3% | During weekly lectures |
| Examination 1 | 60% | To be advised |
Faculty Policy - Unit Assessment Hurdles (http://intranet.monash.edu.au/infotech/resources/staff/edgov/policies/assessment-examinations/assessment-hurdles.html)
Academic Integrity - Please see resources and tutorials at http://www.monash.edu/library/skills/resources/tutorials/academic-integrity/
Individual assessment. This work will be assessed on a mix of programming tasks and theoretical write-up.
The laboratory work is group-based and it is assessed on correctness and on the quality of the solutions and on the quality of presentation/documentation. Individual marks for each group member will be derived from (i) the peer assessements made by the group under the supervision of the tutor and (ii) the overall marks achieved by the group.
The students will email their group's working to their respective tutor at the end of each lab or as specified by the tutor.
This is an individual assessment, which aims to gauge a student's level of engagement in this unit over the semester. Regular lecture attendance and participation in Q&A will be the two key indicators for measuring engagement and assigning credit.
A. H. Amin, A.I. Khan, B.B. Nasution: Internet-Scale Pattern Recognition: New Techniques for Voluminous Data Sets and Data Clouds, Chapman and Hall/CRC Press, ISBN-13: 978-1466510968, 2012.
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.
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.
Monash Library Unit Reading List (if applicable to the unit)
http://readinglists.lib.monash.edu/index.html
Types of feedback you can expect to receive in this unit are:
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.monash.edu.au/exams/special-consideration.html
It is a University requirement (http://www.policy.monash.edu/policy-bank/academic/education/conduct/student-academic-integrity-managing-plagiarism-collusion-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 electronic submission). Please note that it is your responsibility to retain copies of your assessments.
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
Important student resources including Faculty policies are located at http://intranet.monash.edu.au/infotech/resources/students/
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 Malaysia 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 Malaysia, visit the Library and Learning Commons at http://www.lib.monash.edu.my/. At South Africa visit http://www.lib.monash.ac.za/.