LECTURE 1: COURSE INTRODUCTION Xiaowei Yang. Roadmap Why should you take the course? Who should take this course? Course organization Course work Grading.

LECTURE 1: COURSE INTRODUCTION

Xiaowei Yang

RoadmapWhy should you take the course?Who should take this course?Course organizationCourse workGrading policy

Break◦ Introduce yourself◦ Tell me more about your expectations

How to read papers◦ The question-answer approach◦ The three pass approach

Why should you take this class?

1. Learning new technology trends◦ Cloud computing, datacenter networks, social

networks, network security, etc.

2. Helping you find an exciting research project

3. Discussing other cool ideas with your fellow students and the instructor

Who should take this class?A short answer

◦Anyone who’s interested in the stuff

But seriously◦Have time to read the assigned

readings before coming to class◦Have time for a course project

Course organizationMeet twice a week

Assigned readings for each class

Lecture or Class presentation◦Students may sign up for them

Discussion◦The most important/fun part

Course workReading assignments

Midterm

A course project◦Individual, group of 2~3◦I will provide suggestions

E.g., a cloud application

Grading PolicyClass participation and

presentation: 15%

Midterm: 15%

Project: 70%

BreakIntroduce yourself

Your expectations

HOW TO READ RESEARCH PAPERS

Reading papers effectively is challengingWritten in a condensed style

Assuming much prior knowledge

Written for a different purpose than being course materials

You have limited time

Learning how to read papers effectively is importantLife-time long skill of self-learning

◦New knowledge is likely to show up in research papers

How to read paper effectively1. Know what you should get out of

the papers

2. Know where to find them

Structure of a paperIntroduction

◦Motivation◦Outline the solution

Body◦Solutions in detail◦Evaluation to show the solutions are valid

Conclusion◦Recap◦Emphasize primary contributions

Questions to answer

1. What are the motivations for this work?

◦ People problem: broader impact on society

Saved time, increased safety

◦ Technical problem Why is the people problem difficult? Why are previous solutions inadequate?

◦ Research problem: what the paper addresses

Questions to answer

2. What is the proposed solution?◦ A hypothesis◦ Why is it believed to solve the

problem◦ Why is it better than previous

solutions◦ Design and implementation

Questions to answer

3. What’s the work’s evaluation to the proposed solution

◦ What argument, implementation, and/or experiment shows the solution’s better?

◦ What benefits/problems are identified?

Questions to answer

4. What is your analysis of the identified problem, solution, and evaluation?

◦ Is it a good idea? Flaws? Controversial? Practical?

5. What are the contributions?◦ Insights on the research question,

ideas, software, experimental techniques, …

6. What are the future directions?7. What questions are you left with?

Questions to answer

8. What’s your take-away message?

◦ Try to sum up the paper in one sentence from your own perspective

AnswersWrite your own abstract

Or annotate the paper

Let’s answer those questions for the 2nd paper1. What are the motivations for this

work?2. What is the proposed solution?3. What’s the work’s evaluation to the

proposed solution4. What is your analysis of the identified

problem, solution, and evaluation?5. What are the contributions?6. What are the future directions?7. What questions are you left with?8. What’s your take-away message?

SummaryCourse introduction

How to read papers

Next lecture◦Above the Clouds: A Berkeley View of

Cloud Computing