Distributed Computing: Fundamentals, Simulations and Advanced Topics - Hardcover

Welch, Jennifer L.; Welch, Jennifer; Attiya, Hagit

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0077093526 ISBN 13: 9780077093525

Publisher: McGraw-Hill College, 1998

Synopsis

Distributed Computing: Fundamentals, Simulations, and Advanced Topics. Provides a solid introduction to the mathematical foundations and theory of distributed computing. It introduces the reader to the fundamental issues underlying the design of distributed systems i.e. communication, coordination, synchronization and uncertainty. By adopting a unifying approach to cover key elements of the theory of distributed computing, the book emphasizes the similarities between different models and explains inherent discrepancies. It is unique in presenting up-to-date results in a precise, and detailed, yet accessible manner. The emphasis is on fundamental ideas rather than optimizations and it exposes the similarities solutions to seemingly diverse problems.

About this title

From the Back Cover

"This text provides a well-written, thoroughly thought-out introduction to the theory of distributed computing. For the first time, the fundamentals of distributed computing will be accessible to nonspecialists."
–Maurice Herlihy
Computer Science Department, Brown University, on the first edition

A Clear Path To Understanding Distributed Computing

The explosive growth of distributed computing systems makes understanding them imperative. To make this notoriously difficult subject accessible, Distributed Computing: Fundamentals, Simulations, and Advanced Topics; Second Edition, provides a solid introduction to the mathematical foundations and theory of distributed computing, highlighting common themes and basic techniques.

The authors present the fundamental issues underlying the design of distributed systems–communication, coordination, synchronization, and uncertainty–as well as fundamental algorithmic concepts and lower-bound techniques. The book’s unifying approach emphasizes the similarities between different models and explains inherent discrepancies between them. Focusing on ideas rather than optimizations, the book discusses major models of distributed computing, including:

• Message passing and shared memory communication; synchronous and asynchronous timing models, failures, proofs of correctness, and lower bounds
• Leader election, mutual exclusion, and consensus
• Causality of events and clock synchronization
• Simulations between models of distributed computing
• Advanced topics including randomization, the wait-free hierarchy, asynchronous solvability, and failure detectors

With new material on such subjects as fast mutual exclusion and queue locks, and improved coverage of existing material throughout, this Second Edition will serve as a comprehensive textbook for graduate and advanced undergraduate students, and as a key reference for researchers and practicing professionals.

About the Author

HAGIT ATTIYA received her PhD in Computer Science from Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Since 1990, she has taught in the Department of Computer Science at the Technion, Haifa–Israel’s leading technological university. She has published widely in leading journals and has served on the program committees for many international conferences, including chairing the program committee for the 1997 ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing.

JENNIFER WELCH received her PhD in Computer Science from MIT in 1988. She is currently a professor in the Department of Computer Science at Texas A&M University. She has published numerous technical papers on the theory of distributed computing and has served on the program committees for several international conferences on the subject, including chairing the program committees for the 1999 ACM Symposium on Principles of Distributed Computing and the 2001 International Symposium on Distributed Computing. She has also received several teaching awards.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill College
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0077093526
• ISBN 13: 9780077093525
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 451