Distributed Systems

Bachelors in E-Business & Commerce

EC 250

Breyer State University

Instructor: Randy Weaver MS, BS.

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to Distributed Systems, a Bachelor level course in the curriculum for the degree, Bachelor in E-Business and Commerce. I am delighted to be your instructor in this course and I am looking forward to exploring this subject with you.

This course will explore the concepts of distributed systems. We will learn about client-server architecture, and how distributed systems benefit society, business and industry.

PREREQUISITES: You should have completed a basic networking course, and have knowledge of operating systems in order to obtain the most value from this course. Additionally, you should have completed the following courses in the E-Business and Commerce Bachelor Degree program:

•  EC 100-Electronic Commerce Foundation

•  EC 150-Object oriented Technologies

•  CS 195-Programming Language Design Theory

•  CS 220-Data Base Systems

TIME FRAME: This is a five-semester hour course. You are allowed 10 weeks of time to complete all requirements for this course. You must complete all of the requirements for the course successfully by the end of the 10-week period. The first day of week one will begin the day that you register for the course, or the day which you notify me that your textbooks have arrived and you are ready to begin your studies.

Please be cognizant of the time frame. It is rare that extensions of time are permitted, unless you have good justification. Upon successful completion of this course, you will be awarded five semester hours of credit.

TEXTBOOKS: There is one textbook required for this course:

Book 1: Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms. Andrew S. Tanenbaum & Maarten van Steen. Prentice-Hall 2002: ISBN # 0-13-088893-1

It is advisable to order your texts early to ensure they arrive prior to your scheduled start date for the class.

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EXAMS: There will be two exams given during this course, a mid-term and a final examination. The mid-term will cover the material in the textbook through Chapter 6. The final examination will cover the material covered in Chapters 7-12, and review material from the first five weeks.

The mid-term evaluation must be taken by the end of week 5, and the final must be completed by the end of the 10th week.

Both exams are programmed and are located in the classroom for this course. The examinations are "open book" objective type. You will have one (1) day to complete your exam, once you access it from the classroom. To access the exam, you must send me an email and request to have access to the exam. Upon registration, you will receive your email address. I will then program your access in. You will receive an email back from me telling you that you are now authorized to go ahead and to access your exam. To access, you will come into the classroom, click on testing, and click on the exam you are taking. You will need your User ID and PASS WORD to access the exam. The exam will appear on your screen. Once you access the exam, you have 24 hours to submit your answers. The program provides me the exact date and time that you accessed the exam. The program also notifies me of the exact date and time that you submitted your answers. Thus, the program is timing you. When you are ready, go back into the classroom and click in your responses and then click submit. Shortly, you will receive the exam in your email box with your computed score. You will also know what questions, if any, that you missed, and what the correct answer is. I also receive a copy of your exam and your score.

GRADING: The grading scale for this course is as follows:

90-100%    = A
80-89%      = B
70-79%      = C
Below 70% = Fail

COMMUNICATION: You are encouraged to communicate with me. I am available as a teacher, coach, and mentor to assist you in meeting your goals for this course. Primarily, communication is through email. However, I am also available for conversation by telephone if you would like. Our classroom for this course has a "chat" room. I am also very willing to meet with you one-on-one in the chat room at your request. Please keep my email address handy so that you can contact me whenever necessary. If at any time during this course you change your email address, please be sure to notify me right away.

We will have scheduled group chats weekly to assess progress, answer questions and clarify concepts. You will receive more detailed information when chat sessions are scheduled. I will try to choose a time that is convenient for everyone, but occasional conflicts are likely. If you are unable to attend, let me know immediately.

Please do make every effort to participate in group chat sessions. Your classmates can be a source of valuable insight. I encourage interaction among class members, although it is not generally required or graded.

WRITTEN ASSIGNMENTS: There are no written assignments for this course. The reading involved in this course is rather intensive, and I would prefer you spend your time reading and reviewing your textbook and other resources . If you find you are not being challenged by the material, please contact me for additional projects, research, or reference material. Any additional work is completely voluntary, and will not count against your grade regardless.

PROGRESSING THROUGH YOUR COURSE: When your textbook, "Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms" arrives, please begin reading Chapters 1 through 6. The first 5 weeks of the course is devoted to the material in these chapters. The mid-term exam will cover Chapters 1 through 6. You may read as quickly or slowly as you wish, as long as you have completed the reading and taken the mid-term by the end of week 5. When you have completed these chapters and feel you are ready to take the mid-term, please notify me for access.

Once you have completed the mid-term, begin reading Chapters 7 through 12 of your textbook. You will take the final exam by the end of week 10. Your final will involve the material in chapters 7 through 12, as well as reviewing key concepts from chapters 1 through 6.

As you read the texts, you may want to underline or highlight important concepts, theories, key terms, etc. You may take your own notes, although note taking is not a requirement for this course.

Remember, I am available to help you if you need clarification of a concept.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1). Define and describe a distributed system.
2). Understand the client-server model.
3). Explain communications in a distributed system.
4). Differentiate between message-oriented and stream-oriented communications.

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