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Welcome to the wiki for CSE 231S Introduction to Parallel and Concurrent Programming at Washington University in St. Louis.

Learning Outcomes

1. Learn how to write programs to make use of multiple processors.
2. Learn to how to fix, and preferably, avoid race conditions.
3. Learn how to implement MapReduce frameworks (the technology developed for the original Google search) to deal with big data.
4. Learn how to use locks to share resources safely.
5. Learn how to use read/write lock for improved parallelism under the right conditions.
6. Learn how to avoid deadlock.
7. Learn when and how to use atomics to build thread-safe data structures with improved performance over using locks.
8. Learn when and how to use phasers for more sophisticated concurrency control.
9. Although, the concepts learned should be widely applicable, the assignments will be implemented in Java and, as such, students will develop advanced Java skill.

Calendar

Click here to visit our calendar.

Full Contact Time

Prof. Cosgrove has no planned trips which would cause class to be cancelled. If some unforeseen circumstances arise, such as sickness, class will be moved online and recorded.

Office hours

Schedule

	Sunday	Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday
9:00 - 9:30
9:30 - 10:00
10:00 - 10:30			Class McDonnell 362		Class McDonnell 362	Prof. Cosgrove in January 110
10:30 - 11:00			Class McDonnell 362		Class McDonnell 362	Prof. Cosgrove in January 110
11:00 - 11:30			Class McDonnell 362		Class McDonnell 362	Prof. Cosgrove in January 110
11:30 - 12:00						Prof. Cosgrove in January 110
12:00 - 12:30		Andy Hoette in McKelvey 2037				Katherine Feng zoom
12:30 - 1:00		Andy Hoette in McKelvey 2037				Katherine Feng zoom
1:00 - 1:30		Andy Hoette in McKelvey 2037				Katherine Feng zoom
1:30 - 2:00		Andy Hoette in McKelvey 2037		Sherlock Zhang zoom		Katherine Feng zoom
2:00 - 2:30				Sherlock Zhang zoom		Katherine Feng zoom
2:30 - 3:00				Sherlock Zhang zoom		Katherine Feng zoom
3:00 - 3:30			Alston Liu zoom	Katherine Feng zoom	Alston Liu zoom	Dzenan Zecevic zoom
3:30 - 4:00			Alston Liu zoom	Katherine Feng zoom	Alston Liu zoom	Dzenan Zecevic zoom
4:00 - 4:30		Dzenan Zecevic zoom	Justin Alexander in Brauer 2010	Katherine Feng zoom		Dzenan Zecevic zoom
4:30 - 5:00		Dzenan Zecevic zoom	Justin Alexander in Brauer 2010	Katherine Feng zoom		Dzenan Zecevic zoom
5:00 - 5:30		Dzenan Zecevic zoom	Justin Alexander in Brauer 2010	Katherine Feng zoom
5:30 - 6:00		Dzenan Zecevic zoom	Justin Alexander in Brauer 2010	Katherine Feng zoom
6:00 - 6:30			Eileen Li zoom		Sherlock Zhang in McDonnell 362
6:30 - 7:00			Eileen Li zoom		Sherlock Zhang in McDonnell 362
7:00 - 7:30			Eileen Li zoom		Sherlock Zhang in McDonnell 362
7:30 - 8:00			Eileen Li zoom		Sherlock Zhang in McDonnell 362
8:00 - 8:30
8:30 - 9:00
9:00 - 9:30
9:30 - 10:00
10:00 - 10:30
10:30 - 11:00
11:00 - 11:30
11:30 - 12:00

Class Policies

Academic Integrity

This is not a group project course. You are expected to complete all assignments independently.

Any act of dishonesty (e.g. cheating, lying) will be referred to the Dean's office in Engineering Student Services.

If found in violation, the student will receive an F in the course and a permanent mark on his or her record.

There is no statute of limitations for academic integrity violations. If a violation is later discovered after the completion of the course or even graduation, an F will be retroactively applied (even if it means that the offending student's degree would be revoked).

See the Undergraduate Student Academic Integrity Policy for a non-exhaustive list. If in doubt ask the Professor for clarification.

NOTE: Withdrawing from the course will not prevent the academic integrity officer or hearing panel from adjudicating the case, imposing sanctions, or recommending grade penalties, including a failing grade in the course.

While it's policies may or may not be different, CSE 131 has some general advice on academic integrity.

Honor Pledge

You will be required to fill out a pledge, acknowledgements, and citations file for each assignment. To be clear: failure to fill out this pledge will not save you from an academic integrity violation.

Example Pledge (which you are free to use):

On my honor as a student, the work I am submitting is mine own. It was created within the acceptable bounds of this course.

Attendance/Participation

Attendance is required. You are expected to attend class on both Tuesdays and Thursdays for the section you are registered for. There are many benefits for coming to class (asking TA questions about assignments, clearing up any concepts with Prof. Cosgrove, etc.), so it is highly encouraged for you to come.

Attendance/Participation will be assessed via submission of in-class worksheets. You will only be penalized after missing more than three (3) six (6) in-class worksheets.

S&Q (Synthesis and Question) Forms

There will usually be an S&Q form due before every class. We expect you to complete these the night before classes. You will only be penalized after missing more than three (3) S&Q forms. If you fail to turn these in on time for class, you can still receive 70% credit by turning them in by 11:59PM Central on Friday.

Exercises

Exercises are assessed by whether or not the code pushed to bitbucket passes all of the JUnit tests. Exercises are due the following Saturday one week from their assignment. If, after human inspection, your solution is deemed insufficient/inappropriate despite passing the JUnit tests, you will be alerted with the specifics and given a week to address the situation.

It should go without saying that any dishonest effort to pass the tests without solving the problem would be an academic integrity violation.

The Matrix MapReduce exercise is worth 3X as much as the other exercises (which are equally weighted).

Fall 2023 Specific Policy: all exercises will be granted a one week extension with no penalty.

Fall 2025 Grading breakdown

• Prep S&Q Forms (10%)
• In-class Worksheets Attendance/Participation (10%)
• Labs/Exercises (80%)

Fall 2025 Extensions

For the Fall 2025 semester: All Exercises will have a one week, no penalty extension.

To be clear, the due dates are asserted to be reasonable. The bonus week is intended to account for extreme circumstances.

Grade Ranges

A+ 	[0.967 - 1.0]
A	[0.933 - 0.967)
A-	[0.900 - 0.933)
B+ 	[0.867 - 0.900)
B	[0.833 - 0.867)
B-	[0.800 - 0.833)
C+ 	[0.767 - 0.700)
C	[0.733 - 0.767)
C-	[0.700 - 0.733)
D+ 	[0.667 - 0.600)
D	[0.633 - 0.667)
D-	[0.600 - 0.633)
F       [0 - 0.600)