UVA CS 4740 Cloud Computing

University of Virginia Spring 2021

Instructor: Marty Humphrey

Note: this is a DRAFT that is subject to revision (mainly as I try to best utilize an online format)

Looking for just the schedule?

The “Cloud” is many things. To businesses, it can be a way to scale their information systems without needing to buy a huge number of servers. To Wall Street, it is the next Big Thing in tech. To scientists, it can be the way to analyze their terabytes of data. To the average person, it can be a way to store and access their information from any device at any time.

In this class, we will investigate Cloud Computing from all of these perspectives. In short, we are interested both in how these cloud systems are designed/built and how they are used. The goals for the class are:

• Understand the basics of virtualization, as it is an essential underpinning of cloud platforms.

• Understand the different abstractions/foundations of the various cloud platforms/applications — i.e., Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Containers, and Serverless.

• Understand the pros/cons/differences of public clouds (particularly Amazon Web Services vs. Google Cloud Platform vs. Microsoft Azure) vs. private clouds (e.g., based on major open-source cloud frameworks such as OpenStack.) vs. hybrid public-private clouds.

• Investigate the architectures of major cloud-based systems such as Facebook.

• Gain first-hand experience using major cloud platforms, particularly Amazon Web Services.

• Gain first-hand experience with major cloud data frameworks (“Big Data”!) including Hadoop and Spark.

• Gain first-hand experience with DevOps (such as via Chef or Puppet)

• Gain experience with Internet of Things (IoT) concepts, particularly in the context of cloud computing.

• Gain experience with GPUs, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) as enabled by the cloud.

This class will emphasize hands-on experience via programming assignments (all assignments are by yourself (in 9 days), out on Tuesday and due the following Thursday at 11:59pm – see the schedule). Generally we will be using Python. All assignments will be completed using Amazon Web Services.

Logistics

Instructor	Marty Humphrey
Office	Rice 307
Email	Humphrey AT cs.virginia.edu
Class Meeting Time	Tues/Thurs 9:30-10:45am (WEB)
My virtual office hours	TBD
TA virtual office hours(for program assignments)	TBD
WWW	cs4740-s21.martyhumphrey.info
Prerequisites	CS2150
Textbook	none
Assignments (Collab)	UVA Collab
Piazza (Collab)	UVA Collab

Coursework

What	When	Weight
Readings (WWW)	Usually
Programming assignments	6	60%
Midterm Exam	Thurs Mar 25	20%
Final Exam	Saturday, May 8, 10am-12:00pm	20%

More Details

• Assignments are due Thursdays at 11:59pm (1 min before midnight). Late policy:

  After	Before	Max score
  Thurs 11:59pm	Fri 11:59pm	90
  Fri 11:59pm	Sat 11:59pm	80
  Sat 11:59pm	Sun 11:59pm	70
  Sun 11:59pm		0

• The course will be conducted according to the UVA honor system. Homeworks (programming assignments) and exams are to be completed by the individual (no teams). I expect a signed honor pledge on all homeworks and exams; more importantly, I expect you to adhere to the intent of the pledge. Cooperative efforts at understanding the material and the assignments of the course are encouraged. 
• Do NOT wait until the last minute to do the readings and / or the project. In any software project, you must anticipate and plan for unexpected events (such as a machine crashing at an inopportune time).
• If you are having difficulty with a particular concept of the class, please let me know. If you don’t understanding something, there's a good chance that others in the class are confused as well.

• +1 434 982 2258
• humphrey@cs.virginia.edu
• Dept of Computer Science, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22904 USA.