CS 3700 Networks and Distributed Systems Logistics

CS 3700 Networks and Distributed Systems Logistics (a.k.a., The boring slides) Revised 1/7/2024

Hello! 2 Welcome to CS 3700 Are you in the right classroom? Who am I? Professor Alden Jackson awjacks@northeastern.edu Office: 256 WVH Office Hours: Wednesdays 10-12 am (on Teams for now). Reserve using Bookings

A little about me 3 I grew up in Maryland, just outside Washington, DC. My undergraduate degree is in physics from the University of Dallas. I enjoyed modeling and simulating physical systems, so I did a Masters in EE at Howard University. Did research in image processing and ran a research computing center. Went to the University of Delaware for my Ph.D. degree, where networking found me. Now primarily interested in high speed networks, network architecture, transport protocols, massive distributed system reliability, network security, privacy and Internet censorship mitigation

Where Ive been 4

Say Hi to the TAs 5 10 (soon to be 12) TAs, shared across the four sections Pranav Boditalupula Sivasankara Reddy, Aishwarya Channappaji, Nicole Gerzon, Weixin Kong, Nikhil Manikonda, Yifei Sun, Keerthana Thangavelu, Harshith Umesh, Jasmine Winchester, Sri Satya Sai Goutham Yadavalli TA office hours will be displayed in the Office Hours app (TBD) Most online, but some in-person TA office hours will be available soon. See Piazza for updates. Post questions to Piazza

Why Take This Course? 6 How many of you have checked your email, FB, texts Today? In the past hour? Since I started talking? Your hand is still down because you re online at this very moment

Networks and Distributed Systems are Ubiquitous 7 Touch every part of our daily life Web search Social networking Watching movies Ordering merchandise Banking Dating Driving directions Requesting a ride or food

Why Take This Course? 8 Networking is one of the most critical topics in CS There would be no Web Streaming media Big Data Cloud Apps or mobile computing Online gaming Social networks NUFlex (?!?) without networks

Goals 9 Fundamental understanding about computer networks All the way from bits on a wire across the Internet to a complex, distributed application Focus on software and protocols Not hardware Minimal theory Not software engineering Project-centric, hands-on experience Real projects, protocols, etc.

Online Resources 10 Course webpage with schedule and lecture notes https://3700.network Also accessible via Canvas (merged sites) Class forum is on Piazza: https://piazza.com/northeastern/spring2024/cs3700merged202430/home Link is also on the course webpage and on Canvas Install their iPhone/Android app When in doubt, post to Piazza Don t expect immediate (or late night) responses from me or the TAs Answer questions. If a response needs tuning , we will follow up Use #hashtags (#homework1, #lecture2, #project3, etc.) Piazza is preferable to email; email only for private questions, e.g., grades

Teaching Style 12 I am a researcher Things make sense to me that may not make sense to you I talk fast if nobody stops me Solution: ask questions! Seriously, ask questions Standing up here in silence is very awkward I will stand here until you answer my questions Help me learn your names Say your name before each question (no more Zoom to tell us)

Textbook 13 Two textbooks, both optional (see syllabus for other resources) Computer Networks: A Systems Approach (Peterson and Davie, 5th Edition) Distributed Systems: Concepts and Design (Coulouris etal., 5th Edition)

Workload 14 Projects (6) 5%, 10%, 15%, 15%, 10%, 15% (respectively) Homeworks (10) 3% each Total 100%

Projects 15 This course is project-centric (70% of the course grade) Designed to give you real networking experience Start early! You have a project due on Jan 22! Seriously, start early!Why?? 6 projects Due at 11:59:59pm on specified Monday nights Use Gradescope to submit your code, documentation, other requirements Try submitting well before the deadline to ensure no issues with formatting, etc Working code is paramount!

Project Logistics 16 Languages You may choose the language for the projects (see Piazza for fine details) Code must compile in the Gradescope environment Submissions earn points by passing Gradescope autograder tests Project 1 is out, due Monday, January 22nd (TLS support at a later date) Project questions? Post them on Piazza! What's that again: Post them on Piazza!!

Project Groups 17 Projects 3-6 will be completed in groups of two Unless there are very rare circumstances Yes, you can work by yourself, i.e., a group of one Partner selection Pick whoever you want You may switch partners between projects Yes, you can a different partner for EVERY project Do not complain to me about your lazy partner Hey, you picked them Can t find a partner? Post a message on Piazza!

Late Policy 18 Each student is given 6 (six!) slip days that they can use at any time to extend an assignment deadline in increments of a single day You don t need to ask me, just turn-in stuff late All group members must have unused slip days i.e., if one member has zero slip days left, the whole group is late Assignments are due at 11:59:59pm, no exceptions 1 second late = 1 hour late = 1 day late After slip days are used, it s 20% off per day late

Participation 19 This is an upper-level college course I m not taking attendance but you will want to show up Besides benefiting you, active participation is noted (Need a recommendation??) In class On Piazza Piazza Active participation (questions, answers) Passive participation (views)

Exams 21 No exams You will have more than enough work from the homeworks and projects

Grade Changes 24 If you think there has been a grading error, log a regrade in Gradescope The TA who graded your assignment will evaluate your request and get back to you A regrade request must be logged within 5 days after the assignment has been returned If you have further issue with the TA regrade, you may challenge it to an instructor Each student is given 2 challenges to ask for instructor regrades If the grade is incorrect, you keep your challenge If the grade is correct, you lose your challenge When your challenges are exhausted, you cannot challenge regrades Detailed instructions for grade challenges are in the syllabus

Grade Changes (Continued) 25 Challenges may be used for: Projects, homeworks Challenges may not be used for: Late assignments, use of slip days If you want to challenge a project grade, all group members must have an available challenge Your challenge succeeds or fails as a group

Cheating 26 Do not do it Seriously, don t make me say it again Cheating is an automatic zero We send any and all suspects to OSCCR without exception Khoury is also tracking cheating, with stricter enforcement Project code must be original You and your groupmates only Unless we give you starter code, obviously StackOverflow/Quora are not your friends Copying from public Githubs or Generative AI will get you an 0 grade If you have questions about using an online resource, ask us

Final Grades 27 At the end of the semester, all of your grades will sum to 100 points Projects Homeworks 30 + 5 + 10 + 15 + 15 + 10 + 15 = 100 Final grades are based on a simple scale: A >92, A- 90-92, B+ 87-89, B 83-86, B- 80-82, Details on the syllabus We don t curve grades But, all final grades are rounded up (i.e., 89.00001 is a 90 which is an A-)

Schedule and Lecture Slides 28 https://3700.network/

29 PROJECT 1

Project 1: Simple socket client game 30

Project 1: Simple socket client game 31 First project due Monday, January 22nd at 11:59:59pm You will complete this project by yourself Goal: Implement a client for playing Wordle We wrote a Wordle server, you need to write a client When you successfully guess the word, you will be given a custom secret flag Can implement client in any language you like Protocol is in JSON (use a library to parse this!) Your client will need to support both plain and TLS sockets (different flags)

Project 1 requirements 32 Only need to successfully implement a client, find your 2 secret flags Performance (a smart guessing strategy) is a secondary concern Only need to be smart enough to find your flags More details at: https://3700.network/docs/projects/socketbasics/

One last note 33 This is (still) not normal Really, nothing about our lives is quite normal This semester will still be hard on us all Please take care of yourselves and each other Seek help if you need it (UHCS, WeCare, etc) My (virtual) door is always open Masks are optional but welcome If you re feeling unwell, be courteous and stay home

Questions? 34