Professor: Herlihy Course format: Language	Number of respondents: 7 Total Enrollment: 13
Class Composition: Froshs: 0 Sophs: 0 Jrs: 2 Srs: 3 Concs: 6 Non-Concs: 1 Don't Know: 0

Instructor Average: 1.61 Course Average: 1.65

"Introduction to Distributed Computing" is a course intended to teach students the basic topics of distributed and concurrent computing, designed with an emphasis on communication, synchronization, and fault tolerance. There are no official prerequisites stated, but respondents recommend basic programming ability that is standard to general CS knowledge, as well as familiarity with computer architecture. Also, experience in writing proofs is helpful.

Students felt that Professor Herlihy was very enthusiastic and welcoming to questions. He was clear and reviewed topics covered in the previous class at the beginning of every class. One teaching technique that was considered ineffective was the use of initial examples that used physical metaphors. He was very good at incorporating recent research and experiments into the course material.

Six problem sets were assigned as homework in this course. Although the homework assignments were generally considered to be well designed and relevant to course material, some of them were poorly worded or vague. There was also a midterm and a final exam. There were no required readings.

In general, students spent an average of four to eight hours a week outside class on course work. This was what the average student had expected when he/she enrolled in the course. The respondents were divided on their opinions of the course overall. The students who enjoyed the material recommended it and praised the professor's enthusiasm and lecturing skills, while other students warned that the content of the course was not what they had expected. A few students felt that the course material was dry and boring.

View CS/0176 in the Brown Online Course Announcement.