02/02/2015

Coursera

The"CloudComputing"Specialization

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Syllabus

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CloudComputingConcepts(C3),
Part1
Onthispage:
CourseDescription CourseGoalsandObjectives Textbook CourseOutline
MultipleWaystoCompleteThisCourse ElementsofThisCourse DiscussionForums
GettingandGivingHelp

CourseDescription
Cloudcomputingsystemstoday,whetheropensourceorusedinsidecompanies,arebuiltusinga

commonsetofcoretechniques,algorithms,anddesignphilosophies allcenteredaround
distributedsystems.Learnaboutsuchfundamentaldistributedcomputingconceptsforcloud
computing.Understandhowthesetechniquesworkinsidetodaysmostwidelyusedcloudcomputing
systems.Getyourhandsdirtyusingtheseconceptswithprovidedhomeworkexercises.Inthe
optionalprogrammingtrack,implementsomeoftheseconceptsintemplateassignmentsprovidedin
C++programminglanguage.

CourseGoalsandObjectives
AttheendofthistwopartCloudComputingConceptscourse,youwillbeableto:
Identifyclassicaldistributedcomputingproblemsthatariseintodayscloudcomputingproblems.
Knowandapplyclassicalsolutionstocommondistributedcomputingproblemsthatarisein
todayscloudcomputingsystems.
Knowandapplythefundamentallimitationsofwhatispossibleandwhatisnotincloudcomputing
systems.
Knowandapplyknowledgeofpopulardistributedsystemsusedinindustrytoday.
Analyzeagivendistributedalgorithmintermsofcomputationandcommunicationcomplexity,
scalability,andfaulttolerance.
Designalgorithmsandsystemssolutionstothecoredistributedcomputingproblemsarisingin
todayscloudcomputingsystems.
Buildanddebugafullyworkingcloudcomputingsysteminsideanemulatedframework.(optional
programmingassignments)

Textbook
Notextbookisrequired.Youwilllearnthecontentthroughvideolectures,homework,exams,and
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programmingassignments.Linkstosomeextrareadingmaterialswillbeprovidedinthe
correspondingweeks.

CourseOutline
Part1ofthecourseconsistsof5weeklymodules,eachofwhichwillbereleasedtoyoushortlybefore
themodulebegins.
Module

LectureVideos Assignments

Course
Overview
Orientation

Part1
Introduction

ReviewtheSyllabus,HowtoPass
theClass,andAboutthe
DiscussionForums
OrientationQuiz
UpdateCourseraProfileand
checkouttheSocialMediapage
GettingtoKnowyourClassmates

Clouds
MapReduce
Week1:Introduction

Sumeet

andMapReduce

Singh

Homework1Release

Interview
Gossip
Week2:Gossip,

Membership
Grids

ProgrammingAssignment1

Membership,andGrids

William

Release

Gropp
Interview

Week3:P2PSystems

Peerto
peer
systems

Homework1Due
Homework2Release

Week4:Keyvalue
stores,andTimeand
Ordering

Keyvalue
stores
NoSQL
Timeand
ordering
Marcos
Aguilera
Interview

ProgrammingAssignment1Due

Week5:Classical
DistributedAlgorithms

Snapshots
Multicast
Paxos(aka
Consensus)
Tushar
Chandra

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Homework2Due
FinalExam

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Interview

MultipleWaystoCompleteThisCourse
(andMultiplePotentialBenefits)
Iamcontinuallylookingtoimprovethiscourseandmayencountersomeissuesrequiringustomake
changessoonerratherthanlater.Assuch,thissyllabusissubjecttochange.Iappreciateyourinput
andaskthatyouhavepatienceaswemakeadjustmentstothiscourse.Thiscourseoffersafree,no
riskSignatureTrackTrial.ToqualifyforaVerifiedCertificate,simplystartverifyingyourcourseworkat
thebeginningofthecourse(withnoupfrontcharges),andpaythe$49SignatureTrackregistration
feeanytimebeforethelastweekofthecourse.Youcandelaypaymentuntilyoureconfidentyoull
pass.CourseraFinancialAidisavailabletooffsettheregistrationcostforstudentswithdemonstrated
economicneeds.Ifyouhavequestionsaboutthistrial,pleaseseethehelptopicshere.
Ifyouchoosenottoverifyyourwork,youcanstillparticipateinthecompletecourse.Whileyourfinal
gradewillberecordedonyourCourseRecordspage,thiscoursewillnotofferaStatementof
Accomplishment.Youwillhowever,stillreceiveanybadgesyouearn,asdescribedbelow.I
recognizethatthisisnoordinarycourse.Youmayhavedifferentperspectivesanddifferentgoalsfor
thiscoursethansomeofyourpeersorthanIcouldhaveanticipated.Therefore,Iwanttoempower
youtocustomizethiscoursetomeetyourneeds.Tothisend,wehavedesignedmultiplebadgesyou
canearnthroughparticipationinthiscourse.Youneedtoonlyearnonebadgetopassthecourse
andapplytowardsaVerifiedCertificatefromCourseramarkingsuccessfulcompletion,thoughI
encourageyoutoearnasmanybadgesaspossibleaseachbadgeprovidesuniquebenefitstoyou,
asdescribedindetailontheHowtoPasstheClasspageandsummarizedbelow.
WhatIt's
Called

HowIt'sEarned

Course

Cumulativescoreof70%85%

WhatYouGet

Achievement onallHomeworkandtheFinal
Badge
Exam

QualifyforaVerifiedCertificate

Course
Mastery
Badge

Cumulativescoreof85%or
moreonallHomeworkandthe
FinalExam

QualifyforaVerifiedCertificate
andinclusionintheCourse
MasteryHallofFame

Course&
Programming
Achievement
Badge

Cumulativescoreof70%85%
onallHomework,theFinal
Exam,andtheProgramming
Assignment

QualifyforaVerifiedCertificate

Course&
Programming
Mastery
Badge

Cumulativescoreof85%or
moreonallHomework,theFinal
Exam,andtheProgramming
Assignment

QualifyforaVerifiedCertificate
andinclusionintheCourse&
ProgrammingMasteryHallof
Fame

CloudComputingConcepts,Part2andthe
SpecializationCertificateinCloud
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Computing
Areyoulearningfromandenjoyingthiscourse?ThenbesuretoregisterforCloudComputing
Concepts,Part2,thesecondhalfofthecourseyouareinnow.CloudComputingConcepts,Part2
beginswherePart1leavesoffandcoversadditionalessentialcloudcomputingconceptslikeclassical
precursors,widelyusedalgorithms,scalability,andtrendingareas.Ifyouwouldliketoextendyour
knowledgeevenfurther,youcanexploreaspecializationinCloudComputing.CloudComputing
Concepts,Part1andPart2arepartofacourseclusterthatmakeuptheCloudComputing
Specialization.Byearningachievementormasterybadgesinthiscourse,youareonyourwaytoward
earningaSpecializationCertificateinCloudComputingfromtheUniversityofIllinoisatUrbana
ChampaignandCoursera.

ElementsofThisCourse
Thecourseiscomprisedofthefollowingelements:
Lecturevideos.Eachweekyourinstructorwillteachyoutheconceptsyouneedtoknowthrough
acollectionofshortvideolectures.Youmayeitherstreamthesevideosforplaybackwithinthe
browserbyclickingontheirtitles,oryoucandownloadeachvideoforlaterofflineplaybackby
clickingthedownloadicon.
Inlecturequestions.Eachlecturehasquestionsassociatedwithittohelpverifyyour
understandingofthetopics.Thesequestionswillautomaticallyappearwhilewatchingthevideoif
youstreamthevideothroughyourbrowser.Thequestionsareavailableasaseparate
downloadabletextfileforthosewhoprefertodownloadthevideos.Thesequestionsdonot
contributetowardyourfinalscoreintheclass.
Homework.Thereare2homeworkassignmentswhichareforcreditquizzes.Youwillbeallowed
2attemptsateachquiz.Eachattemptwillpresentadifferentselectionofquestionstoyou.Your
homeworkscorewillbeusedwhencalculatingyourfinalscoreintheclass.Thereisnotimelimit
onhowlongyoutaketocompleteeachhomeworkattempt.Thereisadeadlineforeach
homeworkassignmenthowever,ifyousubmitahomeworkassignmentwithinthefirst3days
afterthedeadline,youcanstillearnupto60%ofthepossiblepointsforthathomework
assignment.
Exams.Foranyofthecourseachievementormasterybadges,youwillnotonlyfinishallthe
homeworkbutalsoafinalexam(oneattheendofeachpartoftheC3course).Thematerial,
homework,andfinalexamforC3,Part2willutilizeknowledgegainedfromC3,Part1.Thereisa
timelimitonhowlongyoutaketocompletetheexam.Thereisadeadlineforeachexam
however,ifyousubmittheexamwithinthefirst3daysafterthedeadline,youcanstillearnupto
60%ofthepossiblepointsfortheexam.
ProgrammingAssignments.Fortheprogrammingtrack,youarerequiredtofinishallthe
homework,theexam,andtheprogrammingassignment.Theprogrammingassignmentwillgive
youworkingknowledgeofmanyoftheconceptsandprinciplescoveredinthiscourse.
Discussion.Usethediscussionforumstolearnmorewithyourpeers.Besuretomakethemost
oftheminthisclass.

InformationAboutLectures
Thelecturesinthiscoursecontainthemostimportantinformationyouneedtoknow.Youcanaccess
theselecturesviatheAllVideoslinkinthemainmenuorviatheweeklyoverviewpages(preferred).
Thefollowingresourcesaccompanyeachvideo:

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Theplaybuttonwillopenthevideoupinyourbrowserwindowandstreamthelecturetoyou.
Thedurationofthevideo(inhoursminutessecondsformat)isalsolisted.Somelecturesmay
includeinvideoquestionsdescribedabove.Withintheplayerthatappears,youcanclicktheCC
buttontoactivateclosedcaptions.Englishcaptionsareavailableforallvideos.Insomecases,the
captionshavebeentranslatedbyyourpeersintootherlanguagesandmadeavailabletoyou.
Learnmoreabouttranslatingcaptionsintootherlanguages.
TheLectureNotesorLectureSlidesprovideyouwithareferenceofthekeypointsraisedin
thelecture.Insomecases,whentheLectureNotesarepresentedinawikiformat,youwillhave
theabilitytoedittheLectureNotestoprovidemoredetailsandhelpouryourfellowstudent.
TheTranscriptprovidesyouwiththetextofthespeaker'swords.ItisprovidedinEnglishonly.
TheDownloadlinkallowsyoutodownloadacopyofthefileinMP4format(whichmostvideo
playersoftwarecanhandle).ThisoptionmaybeusefulifyouareonaslowerInternetconnection
orprefertoviewthevideoswhennotconnectedtotheInternet.Eachfileisautomatically
numberedintheorderitappearsinthecourseandincludestheduration(inhoursminutes
secondsformat)inthefilenameaswell.
Ifyouchoosetodownloadthevideo,youmayoptionallywishtodownloadtheclosedcaption
SRTfiletoaccompanyit.Consultyourvideoplayer'sdocumentationonhowtoloadtheSRTfile
withyourvideo.SRTfilesareonlyavailableinEnglish.
Downloadedvideofilesdonotincludeinlecturequestionsembeddedwithinthemlike
streamedvideosdo.However,youcandownloadtheinlecturequestionsasaseparatefile.
Mostvideoshaveadiscussionforumdedicatedtothem.Thisisagreatplacetodiscussany
questionsyouhaveaboutthecontentofthevideoorshareyourideasandresponsestothe
video.

DiscussionForums
Thediscussionforumsareakeyelementofthiscourse.Besuretoreadmoreaboutthediscussion
forumsandhowyoucanmakethemostoftheminthisclass.

GettingandGivingHelp
Youcanget/givehelpviathefollowingmeans:
UsetheLearnerHelpCentertofindinformationregardingspecifictechnicalproblems.For
example,technicalproblemswouldincludeerrormessages,difficultysubmittingassignments,or
problemswithvideoplayback.YoucanaccesstheHelpCenterbyclickingontheHelplinkatthe
toprightofanycoursepage.Ifyoucannotfindananswerinthedocumentation,youcanalso
reportyourproblemtotheCourserastaffbyclickingontheContactUs!linkavailableoneach
topic'spagewithintheLearnerHelpCenter.
UsetheContentIssuesforumtoreporterrorsinlecturevideocontent,assignmentquestionsand
answers,assignmentgrading,textandlinksoncoursepages,orthecontentofothercourse
materials.UniversityofIllinoisstaffandCommunityTAswillmonitorthisforumandrespondto
issues.
Note:Duetothelargenumberofstudentsenrolledinthiscourse,theinstructorisnotabletoanswer
emailssentdirectlytohisaccount.Rather,allquestionsshouldreportedasdescribedabove.

CreatedFri13Jan20129:33PMPST
LastModifiedSun1Feb20151:24PMPST

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