Prerequisites
Undergraduate systems or networks course covering basic networking
concepts (e.g., 6.033 or
equivalent). If you're an undergraduate or MEng student, you should have liked the materiaal in 6.033 and have done reasonably well in it; if you think you should take the class without having taken 6.033, then please send email or talk to Professor Balakrishnan.
If your networking background is rusty, you should page material in
from one of these excellent books. In
particular, we recommend the book by Peterson and Davie or the
book by Kurose and Ross.
Knowledge of elementary probability (e.g., as in 6.041, 6.042, or
equivalent) and simple statistics will be helpful.
Course structure
Lectures will discuss the conceptual underpinnings and key details of material from the readings assigned from the literature. Students must read the assigned readings before each lecture and come prepared with comments and questions. Class participation is valued highly will count towards
your grade.
Grading
The largest contributor (40%) to the final grade is a significant
course project in which students carry out small research projects. A project in 6.829 has three components:
- A proposal, due at the end of September, which describes your problem,
why it is important, prior work,
your plan for tackling the problem, and how you are going to evaluate the solution.
The proposal should not be more than 3 pages. We will read your proposal and give you feedback.
- A project status report, due in mid-November, which explains your approach, related/prior work, initial results, and why you believe you are on
the right track. It may also include material from the proposal after you
had the chance to update it based on our feedback.
- A final report: At the end of the term,
students will submit a conference-style paper describing the project
and its key contributions/findings, and make a 20-minute conference-style presentation
of their work. The entire project will constitute 40%
of your total grade (divided between the status report, talk, and paper). Start early!
In addition, there will be a few problem sets assigned during the
term.
Problem sets will constitute 25% of
your grade.
We will have two in-class quizzes, currently planned for
October 20, 2005 and December 1, 2005. These quizzes form 30% of your final grade.
Finally, class participation
counts for 5% of your grade.
In summary:
| Course project (2 papers + presentation) |
40% |
| Problem sets |
25% |
| Two quizzes |
30% |
| Class participation, enthusiasm, and energy-level! |
5% |
But please note: 6.829 is a graduate class and grades shouldn't be your primary
or only motivator! What matters is how much you learn about research in
networking and how much it excites you. We hope that this class and the
project you work on meet those goals!
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