Computer Science

The vast majority of businesses now rely upon well-designed, functional, efficient and secure IT systems to carry out their day to day operations and to guide their business strategy.  This module introduces you to the techniques required to enable the development of systems that can operate across multiple sites, perhaps even multiple countries, in a secure and efficient manner.   In addition, the module highlights the  issues and opportunities that can arise from the creation and storage of large-scale datasets.  This module will be appropriate for any student interested in the development of enterprise-level software who is studying a programme with significant programming content.

Pre-requisite modules: ECM2407, ECM2413
 

The aim of this module is to introduce you to the techniques used to implement large-scale distributed information systems in heterogeneous environments and to consider important interoperability issues, including GRIDS and the semantic web.

Module Specific Skills and Knowledge:
1 demonstrate an appreciation of the problems that can arise in the development of large-scale distributed information systems;
2 construct concurrent and distributed computing systems by synchronising the activities of processes and threads, and by using communication substrates;
3 explain the importance of usability, security, availability, scalability and performance, and show how these can be achieved in concurrent and distributed computing systems;
4 demonstrate an appreciation of database functionality underpinning such systems, and of the practical realisation of this in commercial products;
5 interpret recent developments in interoperability architectures;
6 demonstrate a clear understanding of the latest relevant standards and reference architectures;
7 demonstrate knowledge of appropriate resources for keeping abreast of developments in the area.
Discipline Specific Skills and Knowledge:
8 understand and use protocol specifications;
9 design within the context of heterogeneous systems.
Personal and Key Transferable/ Employment Skills and  Knowledge:
10 write a report developing and justifying a design for interoperability;
11 handle the advanced features of a DBMS related to interoperability.

Processes, threads and synchronisation issues Interoperability in heterogeneous information systems. Communications substrates (Java Remote Method Invocation, CORBA). Service Oriented Architecture. GRIDS computing. Ontologies; Semantic web
 

Referred and deferred assessment will normally be by examination. For referrals, only the examination will count, a mark of 40% being awarded if the examination is passed. For deferrals, candidates will be awarded the higher of the deferred examination mark or the deferred examination mark combined with the original coursework mark.
 

ELE – http://vle.exeter.ac.uk

Reading list for this module: