CS 636 Semester 2025-26-II

Class hours: TuThF 8-9 AM in KD 102

Instructor Information

Name	Email
Swarnendu Biswas	swarnendu@cse.iitk.ac.in

TA Information

Name	Email
Srinjoy Sarkar	srinjoys23@cse.iitk.ac.in
Sahil Basia	sahilbasia24@cse.iitk.ac.in
Binong Kiri Bey	binong@cse.iitk.ac.in
Vishal Ramdas Junjare	vrjunjare25@cse.iitk.ac.in

Course Description

This course will focus on the challenges of developing correct and scalable concurrent programs. We will discuss the errors we make while writing concurrent programs and the techniques and tools to debug them. We will learn about techniques and abstractions that help write correct concurrent programs, such as synchronization primitives and transactional memory. Furthermore, we will discuss testing of concurrent programs and ideas to avoid common performance bottlenecks.

We will have 2-3 programming assignments and a course project.

Prerequisites

Exposure to the following courses (or equivalent) is desirable: CS220 (Computer Organization) and CS330 (Operating Systems).
Programming maturity with popular programming languages like C, C++, and Java.

Syllabus

The course will focus on a subset of the following topics.

Concurrency Bugs: data races, atomicity violations, and deadlocks
Shared Memory Synchronization: locks, barriers, condition variables, and monitors
Concurrent programming paradigms: shared-memory, message-passing, partitioned global address space
Memory Consistency Models
Transactional Memory
Concurrent Data Structures
Performance Challenges: PAPI counters, performance analysis tools, false sharing
Testing of Concurrent Programs

We may add new, drop existing, or reorder topics depending on progress and class feedback. The course may also involve reading and critiquing related research papers.

Policies

Please be on time for class.
Avoid using laptops and/or mobile devices in class; they are distracting for both the instructor and other students who want to concentrate.
You are allowed up to two late days to submit your assignment, with a 25% penalty for each day.

Evaluation Scheme

The following is a tentative allocation and might change slightly depending on the strength of the class. Grading is relative.

Class participation/quizzes	5%
Assignments	15%
Midsem	25%
Course project	25%
Endsem	30%

Academic Integrity

You may discuss concepts with classmates, but all submissions must be your own or your team's work when teamwork is permitted.
You should not search online for existing solutions related to the assignments, even as a reference.
Students caught cheating or plagiarizing will receive penalties, automatically fail the course, and will be reported to the institute.

Feedback

I am open to feedback about the course content and presentation. Feel free to provide suggestions for improvements.

Resources

Date	Topic	Resources	Recommended Reading
	First course handout	FCH
06/01, 08/09, 09/09, 13/09, 15/09	Concurrency Bugs	Slides	OSTEP Chapters 26, 32
	Cache Coherence	Slides	MCM Chapters 2, 6, 8 (IITK has subscribed to the ebook)
	Memory Consistency Models	Slides	Shared Memory Consistency Models: A Tutorial MC Chapters 1-5
	Shared-Memory Synchronization	Slides	MP 2.3, 2.4, 2.6, 7.1-7.5, 8.3 SMS 4.1, 4.2, 4.3.1, 6.1
	Concurrent Data Structures		MP Chapters 3, 9, 10, 11, 13 OSTEP Chapter 29
	Performance of Concurrent Programs
	Transactional Memory
	Testing of Concurrent Programs

References

I have listed (NOT in any particular order) a few popular references.

[MP]	The Art of Multiprocessor Programming, 1^st edition - Maurice Herlihy and Nir Shavit
[MCM]	A Primer on Memory Consistency and Cache Coherence, 2^nd edition - Vijay Nagarajan, Daniel J. Sorin, Mark D. Hill and David A. Wood
[SMS]	Shared-Memory Synchronization, 2^nd edition - M. Scott and T. Brown.
[TM]	Transactional Memory, 2^nd edition - T. Harris et al.
[PCA]	Parallel Computer Architecture: A Hardware/Software Approach - D. E. Culler et al.
[JCIP]	Java Concurrency In Practice - B. Goetz et al.
[OSTEP]	Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces - R. Arpaci-Dusseau and A. Arpaci-Dusseau