This course aims to explore the fundamental algorithms and design philosophy in modern distributed systems. It discusses the algorithmic foundations and basic services which allow computers and processes to co-operate in distributed systems. The objective is to give students a clear overview of the problems and issues that must be dealt with in constructing robust and flexible distributed systems.

The goals of this course are twofold: First, for students to gain an understanding of the principles and techniques behind the design of distributed systems, such as locking, concurrency, caching, prefetching, scheduling, and communication across the network. Second, for students to gain practical experience designing, implementing, and debugging real distributed systems.