News
- We're trying out the Piazza class discussion system, sign up ASAP
here
- Webpage now online, lecture topics/papers still subject to change
General Information
When and Where: Mon/Wed, 1:00-2:50PM, Phelps 1401
Professor: Ben
Zhao,
ravenben at cs.ucsb.edu
TA: Gang Wang, Christo Wilson
Office Hours:
- Ben: Mondays, Noon-1pm, @ my lab: 936-103
- Gang: Fridays, 1-3PM, 936-103
- Christo: Thursdays, 1-3PM, 936-103
Class Email List: CS276
class page on Piazza
Prerequisites: Solid background in networking
(CS176A+B or equivalent).
Introduction
This course will focus on studying the state of the art in networking
and networked systems. We will cover a variety of topics from routing
protocols to Internet stability, peer-to-peer, social networks and
networking for datacenters. Each topic
will provide background on traditional perspectives, with updates from
current and ongoing research. The expectation is that everyone has a
solid background on networking basics. Discussions of background
material from a textbook will be complemented by those of current
publications. Students will learn tools, techniques, and concepts while
learning to carry out original research in a course project, with the
end goal of producing real, publishable results by the end of the
quarter. In addition, students are expected to gain experience in two
valuable skills: quickly reading technical papers (without sacrificing
understanding), and giving public presentations.
Textbooks
The majority of reading material for this course will come in the form
of research papers. There is no required textbook, but there are
several useful texts (optional) that you can use as background material
to help you better understand the papers.
- Kurose and Ross, Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach
Featuring the Internet, 3rd edition.
- Andrew S. Tanenbaum, Computer Networks, 3rd edition.
- Peterson and Davie, Computer Networks: A Systems Approach,
2nd edition.
Class Participation
Each student is highly encouraged to read all of the relevant papers
before attending class. There are no paper reviews due, unlike my
previous grad courses. At the beginning of each lecture, we will randomly
choose a member of the class to give a very brief 5 minute discussion
of the papers, their salient points, and the most useful take-aways
from each paper. While there is no specific grade assigned to the
presentation, the results will be recorded, and can be used to either
"boost" or "lower" your final grade if it falls between letter grades.
The actual experiences themselves should help students with public
speaking.
Grading Policy
Your quarter grade will be derived from
homework assignments, a midterm exam, and a class
project: