6.824 - Spring 2012

General Information

Structure // Grading policy // Class meetings // Staff // Office Hours // Acknowledgements // Useful Books

Structure

6.824 is a core graduate subject with lectures, labs, a mid-term quiz, a final project, and a final exam. 6.824 is 12 units. 6 EDPs.

Lectures are Tue/Thu 1:00pm to 2:30pm in 32-144. Most class meetings will be one half lecture and one half paper discussion. You should read the paper before coming to class, and be prepared to discuss it. You can find out what paper to read for each meeting in the schedule.

We will post a question about each paper 24 hours before we discuss the paper. Please use Piazza to hand in your answer. Your answer need only be long enough to demonstrate that you understand the paper; a paragraph or two will usually be enough. We won't give feedback, but we will glance at your answers to make sure they make sense, and they will count for part of the paper discussion grade.

6.824 will have a quiz during class in the middle of the term, and a final exam during finals week.

There are programming labs due every week or two throughout the term.

At the end of the term you'll undertake a small project extending the lab programming assignments in a manner of your choice in a team of two or three people. Each team will design and implement an extension of its choice. Each team will also submit a one page description about its project and present a demo.

Grading

Grade for this class will be based on:
You can hand programming assignments in late, but the total amount of lateness summed over all the assignments must not exceed 72 hours. If you don't hand the assignment in at all, or don't hand it in by the last day of classes, we'll give the assignment an F. If you hand an assignment in late, and your total late time (including the late time for that assignment) exceeds 72 hours, and you hand it in by the last day of classes, then we'll give it a D or an F depending on whether it seems to basically work. You can divide up your 72 hours among the assignments however you like; you don't have to ask or tell us. If you want an exception to this rule, please bring us a letter from a dean.

Collaboration policy

You must write all the code you hand in for the programming assignments, except for code that we give you as part of the assignment. You are not allowed to look at anyone else's solution (and you're not allowed to look at solutions from previous years). You may discuss the assignments with other students, but you may not look at or use each other's code.

You may discuss the questions for each discussion paper with other students, but you may not look at other students' answers. You must write your answers yourself.

Class meetings

6.824 meets TR 1pm–2:30pm in 32-144.

Staff

Please use the mailing list (6.824-staff@pdos.csail.mit.edu) to send questions or comments about the course to the staff.

Lecturer
Robert Morris		 32-G972 3-5983 rtm@csail.mit.edu
 
Teaching assistant
Yandong Mao		 32-G980 3-5261 ydmao@mit.edu

Office hours

Robert: Wednesdays 1:00 to 2:00, 32-G972, or by appointment.

Yandong: Thursdays from 4–5:00pm or by appointment, in the 32-G9 Common Lounge.

Acknowledgements

Frans Kaashoek developed the current 6.824 labs and much of the other course material, along with Aleksey Pesterev (MIT), Jinyang Li (NYU) and Jeremey Stribling (MIT).

Useful Books

The labs for 6.824 require programming in C++. The following book is a useful reference on the language: The C++ Programming Language, Bjarne Stroustrup, Addison Wesley.

Questions or comments regarding 6.824? Send e-mail to 6.824-staff@pdos.csail.mit.edu.

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