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The whole book is available for download here: http://dcg.ethz.ch/lectures/podc_allstars/lecture/podc.pdf http://dcg.ethz.ch/lectures/podc_allstars/lecture/podc

The whole book is available for download here: http://dcg.ethz.ch/lectures/podc_allstars/lecture/podc.pdf http://dcg.ethz.ch/lectures/podc_allstars/lecture/podc.pdf Has anyone followed the course or read the book? I was actually reading "Distributed Systems - Concepts and Design (Third Edition)" and thought it felt a bit outdated and not enough focused for my taste (there are whole chapters on networking and operating systems for example). Then I found this course/book which seems a lot more in depth and modern but I haven't had time to read it yet and couldn't find any reviews.

shadeslayer 12y ago
Would you recommend this for someone who is just beginning with the basics of Distributed Computing and does not have a CS background? If not, any recommendations? :) I'm very much interested in distributed computing and was recently reading up about things like the Raft consensus algorithm.
- oinksoft 12y ago
  Elements of Distributed by Computing by Vijay Garg is great: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Distributed-Computing-Vijay-Garg/dp/0471036005 http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Distributed-Computing-Vijay-G...
- deleted 12y ago
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jandrewrogers 12y ago
The book is quite good for elementary distributed systems theory. You would not want to design sophisticated systems from nothing but the principles in that book but it does a nice job of outlining the areas of theory that you need to understand in order to excel at it. Each of the chapters hints at topic areas that require a much deeper dive if you want to master distributed systems. Like Wikipedia, it is merely a starting point. For example, the discussion of greedy routing theory barely scrapes the surface of what is known about designing distributed system with approximately optimal aggregate system throughput. You can get by in many cases without fully understanding the topics in this book. Most popular distributed systems that exist today ignore fundamental concepts in at least one of the theoretical areas discussed. But that is also why distributed systems tend to be brittle or exhibit mediocre scalability. The book doesn't fully explain why some of these areas are important but if you study each of the subject areas, it will become obvious.
- subbu 12y ago
  What books/resources do you recommend for advanced topics?
FracMat 12y ago
Having followed the course in 2010 I can fully recommend the script. It gives an exceptionally comprehensive explanation into the most important distributed computing principles without requiring much (if any) previous knowledge on the topic. The course helped me a lot to get a grasp on the complexity of the various underlying challenges the distributed computing and routing world is facing (and with it an idea of the speed achievable). I can recommend anyone enrolled to visit the course in person (most algorithms and solutions are being "discovered" together with the class on the blackboard, which helped me a lot with a deeper understanding), but I found that the script alone already gives a very good foundation of the principles of distributed computing.
- bluelu 12y ago
  I also followed the course in 2005/2006. It was one of the better lectures and I really much enjoyed it at that time.

shadeslayer 12y ago

Would you recommend this for someone who is just beginning with the basics of Distributed Computing and does not have a CS background? If not, any recommendations? :) I'm very much interested in distributed computing and was recently reading up about things like the Raft consensus algorithm.

oinksoft 12y ago
Elements of Distributed by Computing by Vijay Garg is great: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Distributed-Computing-Vijay-Garg/dp/0471036005 http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Distributed-Computing-Vijay-G...
deleted 12y ago
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jandrewrogers 12y ago

The book is quite good for elementary distributed systems theory. You would not want to design sophisticated systems from nothing but the principles in that book but it does a nice job of outlining the areas of theory that you need to understand in order to excel at it. Each of the chapters hints at topic areas that require a much deeper dive if you want to master distributed systems. Like Wikipedia, it is merely a starting point. For example, the discussion of greedy routing theory barely scrapes the surface of what is known about designing distributed system with approximately optimal aggregate system throughput. You can get by in many cases without fully understanding the topics in this book. Most popular distributed systems that exist today ignore fundamental concepts in at least one of the theoretical areas discussed. But that is also why distributed systems tend to be brittle or exhibit mediocre scalability. The book doesn't fully explain why some of these areas are important but if you study each of the subject areas, it will become obvious.

subbu 12y ago
What books/resources do you recommend for advanced topics?

FracMat 12y ago

Having followed the course in 2010 I can fully recommend the script. It gives an exceptionally comprehensive explanation into the most important distributed computing principles without requiring much (if any) previous knowledge on the topic. The course helped me a lot to get a grasp on the complexity of the various underlying challenges the distributed computing and routing world is facing (and with it an idea of the speed achievable). I can recommend anyone enrolled to visit the course in person (most algorithms and solutions are being "discovered" together with the class on the blackboard, which helped me a lot with a deeper understanding), but I found that the script alone already gives a very good foundation of the principles of distributed computing.

bluelu 12y ago
I also followed the course in 2005/2006. It was one of the better lectures and I really much enjoyed it at that time.