6.1800 | Overview

6.1800 Learning Objectives

After 6.1800, students are able to design their own distributed systems to solve real-world problems. The ability to design one's own distributed system includes an ability to justify one's design choices and assess the impact of their systems on different stakeholders.

This primary objective is supported by a few others:

The students will be able to evaluate and critique existing systems, as well as their own system designs. As part of that, students will learn to recognize design choices made in existing systems.
The students will be able to apply the technical material taught in lecture to new system components. This implies an ability to recognize and describe:
- How common design patterns in computer system—such as abstraction and modularity—are used to limit complexity.
- How operating systems use virtualization and abstraction to enforce modularity.
- How the Internet is designed to deal with scale, a diversity of applications, and competing economic interests.
- How reliable, usable distributed systems are able to be built on top of an unreliable network.
- Common pitfalls in the security of computer systems, and how to combat them.

Because 6.1800 is a CI-M class, students will also learn to communicate in forms that are common in the field of computer systems. This includes written design reports, oral presentations, and peer review. The communication instruction also supports the primary learning objective of designing systems. In the real world, we design systems in teams, and communication of many forms (written, oral, etc.) is part of that process.

Prerequisites: 6.1910 [6.004]
Units: 5-1-6
Requirements satisfied: CI-M for Course 6-1, 6-2, 6-3, 6-4, and 18-C

Textbook: 6.1800 uses Saltzer and Kaashoek's Principles of Computer System Design: An Introduction (Morgan Kaufmann 2009). The text supplements the lectures and recitations; it should be your first resource when you are confused by a lecture topic, or want more information. If you notice errors of any kind in the 6.1800 text, from minor typos to major blunders, please report them by e-mail to saltzer@mit.edu and kaashoek@mit.edu.

You can find PDFs with corrections to the printed and online textbook here . A more up to date version of the Part II errata is here.

The staff of 6.1800 is committed to the principle of equal access. We encourage you to meet with Dr. LaCurts to discuss your disability-related needs, including accommodations which you may need in order to fully access this course.

Course Structure and Philosophy

6.1800 has three components: lectures, recitations, and tutorials. Each are integral to the class, and each serve a different purpose. We are intentional about using active learning techniques across all components of the class, as we have found them to improve participation and engagement. You can read more about that here and here.

Lectures are held on Mondays and Wednesdays. The lectures are designed to teach students the technical details necessary to design their own systems and to put those details in larger contexts: both the contexts of a specific area of systems as well as systems in general. This type of material appears in lectures because that's what lectures are good at: giving a higher-level context for the details of the class.
Recitations are held on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Recitations are designed to give students a chance to practice their system-analysis and oral communication skills. Each recitation revolves around a particular paper in systems. Through reading these papers, students get a better sense of how communication in the field is done. Recitations are discussion-based; students get practice analyzing, critiquing, and communicating about systems.
Writing tutorials are held on Fridays. We will assign you timeslot during the first week of classes. Most of these tutorials will teach the communication theory and practices of this course, and assist you in preparing for the assignments, particularly the design project. You'll become fluent in a variety of communication genres, develop strategies and skills needed to present technical concepts to different audiences, learn how to use writing to develop and deepen your technical understanding—and get specific, directed instruction on writing and presenting your 6.1800 assignments.