Introduction to Distributed Computer Systems

This book introduces readers to selected issues in distributed systems, and primarily focuses on principles, not on technical details. Though the systems discussed are based on existing (von Neumann) computer architectures, the book also touches on emerging processing paradigms. Uniquely, it approaches system components not only as static constructs, but also in action, exploring the different states they pass through. The author's teaching experience shows that newcomers to the field, students and even IT professionals can far more readily grasp the essence of distributed algorithmic structures in action, than on the basis of static descriptions.

Addresses the main principles and features of distributed systems, which are composed of internally controlled computers, i.e., von Neumann architectures Inspired by the author's 30-hour lecture course on distributed computer systems at an elementary level Emphasizes the objectives of distributed systems, which determine their properties

Autorentext
The author obtained the MSc, PhD and habilitation degrees from the University of Warsaw, where he was a professor of informatics at the Faculty of Mathematics, Informatics and Mechanics. He spent some years in other universities, like Carnegie-Mellon, Oxford, Ben-Gurion, Humboldt, as visiting professor or a research fellow. Now he is a professor of the Vistula University and professor emeritus of the University of Warsaw. His work encompasses formal and programming languages, compilers, theory of computation, parallel and distributed processing.

Inhalt
Instruction execution cycle and cooperation of processes.- Distributed systems objectives, features, applications.- Concurrency.- Time, coordination, mutual exclusion without supervisory manager.- Interprocess communication.- Remote Procedure Call.- Failures and damages in distributed system.- Distributed Shared Memory.- The control flow during execution of the alternating bit protocol specified by the cause-effect structure.