CS349d: Cloud Computing Technology
Instructor: Christos Kozyrakis
TAs: Mark Zhao and Swapnil Gandhi
Spring 2024, Mon/Wed 4:30 PM - 5:50 PM, 320-109
Office Hours: TBD
The largest change in the computer industry over the past ten years has arguably been the emergence of cloud computing: organizations are increasingly moving their workloads to managed public clouds and using new, global-scale services that were simply not possible in private datacenters. However, both building and using cloud systems remains a mystery with many difficult research challenges. This research seminar will cover industry and academic work on cloud computing and survey key technical issues. Students will participate in guest lectures from leading experts across the field, read and lead discussions on papers, and do a quarter-long project in groups of 2-3.
Grading: The main evaluation will be around a project that students propose and execute during the course. Apart from that, each student is expected to present one of the papers and to participate in class. The grading rubric will be 65% project, 20% participation, and 15% paper presentations and summaries.
Discussion Site: Online discussions will take place at edstem. An account is created for all enrolled students using their Stanford email. Contact Mark or Swapnil if you have trouble connecting.
Gradescope: You will use Gradescope to submit paper summaries, which are due before the start of each class. You should be already enrolled in Gradescope, but if not, contact Mark or Swapnil.
Presentation and Note-Taking Signup Form: Please sign up for lectures using this Google Form.
Schedule
this link.Assignments
The assignments for this class consists of: Paper Presentations (and note taking), Paper Summaries, and a Project.
Paper Presentations
For lectures with assigned readings, groups of 3-4 students will be assigned to present the papers and lead the class discussions. The assigned student(s) will spend 10-15 minutes presenting the day's paper, and will then lead the subsequent discussion. In your presentation, cover each of the following for each paper:
- Motivation: What is the key problem being addressed in this paper?
- Key insight: What are the key insights the author makes to address the problem?
- Novelty/Strengths: What is different from previous work, and why? Is it a new problem, a new solution, or a new environment for an existing problem? What are the strengths of the authors' approach?
- Critique: Is there anything you would change in the solution? What about in the way the authors presented or evaluated the solution?
- Discussion: List a set of questions to start the class discussion on the paper. For example, questions can focus on things you wish the paper addressed better, broader implications of the paper, or how you would expand on the work.
Note Taking: A student will also be assigned to take notes for guest lectures and for paper presentations with subsequent discussions.
Presentation/Note Links: If you are assigned to take notes or present for a class, please upload your notes or presentation to the following links: Notes, Presentations.
Paper Summaries
For lectures with assigned readings, everyone must submit a summary for each paper on Gradescope prior to the start of each class. Your summary for each paper should be around 1-2 paragraphs (half a page) and should cover similar topics to the paper presentation (Problem, Key Idea, Novelty/Strengths, and Critique), as well as any thoughts that can be used to drive the class discussion.
Projects
Students will propose and run a quarter-long project, ideally in groups of 2-3.
It is fine to use your existing research project if it is relevant to the course and the instructor approves.
You will present the project at the end of the course and write a
5-6 page report. See here for
a list of project ideas.
Project timeline:
- Project proposal: April 17th
- Mid-term review: May 15th
- Presentation: June 3rd and June 5th (in class)
- Final report: June 12th at 6:30PM PT
Adapted from a template by Andreas Viklund.