G52CON Concepts of Concurrency (Semester 2)

This module introduces the basic principles of concurrent programming and their use in designing computer programs. It covers concurrency primitives for shared memory and distributed implementations of concurrency, the correctness of concurrent algorithms, and concurrent programming in Java.

Instructor

Gabriela Ochoa, email:gxo[at]cs.nott.ac.uk

Mentor

Brian Logan, email:bsl[at]cs.nott.ac.uk

Lectures

Monday, 9:00 AM, JC-EXCHGE-C.LT2
Friday, 11:00 AM, JC-EXCHGE-C.LT2

Assessment

Exam (100%), 2 hr written examination

Textbooks

Andrews (2000) Foundations of Multithreaded, Parallel and Distributed Programming, Addison-Wesley. (see also errata page)

Lea (2000) Concurrent Programming in Java: Design Principles and Patterns, (2nd Edition), Addison-Wesley. (see also errata page)

Module Plan

(under construction)

Date	Wk	Monday	Friday
24/01	1	Introduction to Concurrency and Module Overview. Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Demos: ParticleAplet, Sorting Applets, Ornamental Garden Problem.	Operative Systems Processes Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p.
31/01	2	Processes and Threads in Java Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Demos: ParticleAplet (Java source)	Inter-process Communication and Synchronisation Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Demos: Ornamental Garden Problem
07/02	3	Critical Sections and Atomic Actions Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p.	Mutual Exclusion Algorithms I: Test-and-Set: 1 per p., 6 per p.
14/02	4	Algorithms for Mutual Exclusion II Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p.	Semaphores I Slides: 1 per p., 6 per pp. Examples: Count.java, CountSem.java
21/02	5	Semaphores II Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p.	Monitors Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p.
28/02	6	Monitors in Java Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Example: Producer & Consumers (pcmonitor.java),	Syncronization in Java I Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Examples: Ornamental Garden Problem. ParticleAplet (Java source)
07/03	7	Synchronization in Java II Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Examples: Single-line bridge Readers & Writers RW Applet by Magee & Kramer (2006) Java Implementation by Ben-Ari (2006) (rwmonitor.java)	Syncronisation in Java III Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Examples: Readers & Writers Dining Philosophers
14/03	8	Message Passing Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Demos: Asynchronous message passing, Synchronous message passing	Remote Invocation Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Demo: Rendezvous
21/03	9	Proving Correctness Slides: 1 per p., 6 per p. Proof of mutual exlcusion: pdf (Ben-Ari, 82) Slides proving Peterson's algorithm Example: Count.java	Model Checking Slides: 1 per p.
28/03	10	Revision Slides: 1 per p.	Office hour CS, Room B37 and Room B74

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(under construction)

Date	Wk	Monday	Friday
24/01	1	Introduction Andrews (2000), chapter 1, sections 1.1-1.2. Ben-Ari (1982, 2006), chapter 1	Operative Systems Processes Tanenbaum (2008), chapter 2, sections 2.1 and 2.4 Andrews (2000), chapter 1, section 1.2
31/01	2	Processes and Threads in Java Bishop (2000), chapter 13 Lea (2000), chapter 1 Java Tutorial: Processes and Threads	Inter-process Communication and Synchronization Andrews (2000), chapter 2, section 2.1, chapter 3, section 3.1 Tanenbaum (2008), chapter 2, sections 2.2 and 2.3
07/02	3	Atomic Actions Andrews (2000), chapter 2, sections 2.1 and 2.4, chapter 3, section 3.2 Ben-Ari (1982, 2006), chapter 2	Mutual Exclusion Algorithms I Andrews (2000), chapter 3, sections 3.1–3.2 Ben-Ari (1982), chapter 2
14/02	4	Mutual Exclusion Algorithms II Ben-Ari(1982, 2006), chapter 3; Burns & Davies (1993), chapter 3, section 3.4. Exercise 1: Interference Solution to Ex. 1	Semaphores I Andrews (2000), chapter 4, sections 4.1–4.2; Ben-Ari (1982), chapter 4 Ben-Ari (2006), chapter 6 Burns & Davies (1993), chapter 6.
21/02	5	Semaphores II Andrews (2000), chapter 4, sections 4.1–4.2 Ben-Ari (1982), chapter 4 Ben-Ari (2006), chapter 6 Burns & Davies (1993), chapter 6. Exercise 2: Semaphores Solution to Ex. 2	Monitors I Andrews (2000), chapter 5 Ben-Ari (1982), chapter 5; Ben-Ari (2006), chapter 7; Burns & Davies (1993), chapter 7, sections 7.4-7.9. Exercise 3: Monitors Solution to Ex.3
28/02	6	Monitors in Java Ben-Ari (2006), chapter 7; Andrews (2000), chapter 5 Exercise 4: Monitors in Java Solution to Ex.4	Synchronisation in Java I Magee & Kramer (2006), chapters 6 and 7; Ben-Ari (2006), chapter 7 Java Tutorial: Synchronization
07/03	7	Synchronisation in Java II Magee & Kramer (2006), chapters 6 and 7; Ben-Ari (2006), chapter 7	Synchronisation in Java III Magee & Kramer (2006), chapter 6 Ben-Ari (2006), chapter 6 Exercise 5: Dining Philosophers Problem
14/03	8	Message Passing	Remote Invocation
21/03	9	Proving Correctness Andrews (2000), chapter 2, sections 2.6-2.8 Ben-Ari (1982), chapter 3 Ben-Ari (2006), chapter 4 Exercise 6: Proving Correctness Solution to Ex. 6	Model Checking Model Checking. Huth & Ryan (2000), chapter 3 Exercise 7: CTL
28/03	10	Revision	Office hour

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Last Update: 26 March 2011, by Gabriela Ochoa

G52CON Concepts of Concurrency (Semester 2)

Instructor

Mentor

Lectures

Assessment

Textbooks

Further Reading

Books

Articles

Reports of concurrency problems in spacecraft

Slides

Module Plan

(under construction)

Suggested Readings and Exercises

(under construction)