Years ago I watched MIT's course 6.033. It is a great way to understand the first principles at hand in distributed / non-trivial programs: http://ocw.mit.edu/c

Years ago I watched MIT's course 6.033. It is a great way to understand the first principles at hand in distributed / non-trivial programs: http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-computer-science/6-033-computer-system-engineering-spring-2009/video-lectures/ http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/electrical-engineering-and-comput... (also on iTunesU). If you're just getting started with this stuff, having a solid understanding of these principles is critical. I can't recommend these videos enough.