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Semester 1

Modelling Concurrent Systems (Level 11) (INFR11248)

Subject

Informatics

College

SCE

Credits

10

Normal Year Taken

4

Delivery Session Year

2023/2024

Pre-requisites

Only available to full year visiting students as the assessment is exam based in the summer diet.

Course Summary

Concurrent and distributed systems are famously hard to analyse. This theoretical course presents state-of-the-art mathematical models and techniques that make understanding concurrency possible. In the process, we will touch on fundamental philosophical, mathematical and computational questions. What does 'concurrency' actually mean? How do we know our concurrent system behaves correctly? What does 'correctly' actually mean? This course is especially relevant to any student with an interest in a scientific career in programming languages, models, or distributed systems, and also to students looking to design or implement distributed systems in industry.

Course Description

Beginning with simple examples and protocols, we will develop a theory to describe models of concur-rent systems of increasing complexity, based on process algebra. We will learn how to compare these models, and the key concepts that describe what it means for systems to be equivalent, such as bisimulation and trace equivalence. We will learn how to specify prove properties of systems, and the assumptions we must make about the environment in which these systems operate, such as fairness. The course lectures will introduce concepts using standard examples, and students will apply what they have learned to new problems in homework questions delivered weekly. In tutorials, students can discuss solutions to their homework problems and get feedback on their work, developing their solutions into a summative homework portfolio that they submit for grading at two checkpoints throughout the semester.

Assessment Information

Written Exam 40%, Coursework 60%, Practical Exam 0%

Additional Assessment Information

Coursework: 60%Exam: 40%Each week, students will be given a series of homework questions, which usually require a mathematical argument or proof, an in-depth construction of a model, or a thorough comparison between modelling approaches. Students submit these to their tutor for feedback in the tutorial. At two checkpoints throughout the course (weighted at 30% each), students can select some of these homework solutions (e.g. best 4 out of 5) along with their tutor's feedback to submit for summative assessment. At the end of the term, an exam test will be administered that is more broad, requiring only shorter, less in-depth answers. Students must pass the exam in order to pass the course.

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