Concurrent and Distributed Computing in Java [Hardcover]

Vijay K. Garg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 4, 2004 | ISBN-10: 047143230X | ISBN-13: 978-0471432302 | Edition: 1

Concurrent and Distributed Computing in Java addresses fundamental concepts in concurrent computing with Java examples. The book consists of two parts. The first part deals with techniques for programming in shared-memory based systems. The book covers concepts in Java such as threads, synchronized methods, waits, and notify to expose students to basic concepts for multi-threaded programming. It also includes algorithms for mutual exclusion, consensus, atomic objects, and wait-free data structures.
The second part of the book deals with programming in a message-passing system. This part covers resource allocation problems, logical clocks, global property detection, leader election, message ordering, agreement algorithms, checkpointing, and message logging. Primarily a textbook for upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, this thorough treatment will also be of interest to professional programmers.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"…a detailed yet readable introduction to concurrency and distributed computing." (Computing Reviews.com, April 9, 2004)

"...well-written and accurate...a good book for anyone who'd like hands-on training in the concepts of concurrent and distributed systems." (IEEE Distributed Systems Online, November 2004)

Review

Vijay K. Garg introduces concepts, models and algorithms suited to distributed computing and presents them in Java. This way, the reader can see that these algorithms can be effectively implemented (and that there is no "hidden mystery" within the model or the algorithms). The approach used by the author is very appealing as it demystifies concepts that could be considered "too theoretical" to be useful. This book successfully takes up the challenge to nicely merge theory and practice. It can consequently benefit both communities. I stronlgy recommend the book to people interested in the design and implementation of distributed systems.
--Michel Raynal, Professor, University of Rennes, France.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-IEEE Press; 1 edition (February 4, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 047143230X
• ISBN-13: 978-0471432302
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,022,461 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, September 7, 2007

By 

Andy - See all my reviews

This review is from: Concurrent and Distributed Computing in Java (Hardcover)

I bought this book a couple of years ago now. Although it has some interesting discussion of distributed algorithms its big let-down is the abysmal Java code that it contains. I cannot believe for one moment that any of this compiles, let alone works - it all generally looks like pseduo-code written for the purposes of illustration rather being of any practical value.

Likewise I didn't find the material particularly helpfully structured or consistent in its level of detail. I would have liked to see more quantitive analysis of the suitability of different algorithms in practical applications and broader coverage of well-known distributed algorithms (for instance paxos and virtual synchrony are conspicuous in their absence).

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A beginning step into the world of distributed algorithms, April 17, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Concurrent and Distributed Computing in Java (Hardcover)

I bought this book because I was interested in implementing
distributed algorithms. It has a good overview of the fundamental
algorithms and I found it helpful to see actual code. It's the only
book I know of that actually provides implementations rather than
pseudo code.

On the other hand, the algorithm descriptions were often condensed, and I
expected a more formal approach. I often found myself reading eagerly
to learn about an interesting variant of an algorithm only to find a
reference to a journal paper. It would be useful to cover a few more
variants more deeply.

Also, I was hoping to get an idea of an algorithm's usefulness and
performance in practice. Or is a particular algorithm more of
theoretical interest? The answer was not clear to me, although in
fairness, this was not the author's main purpose.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No, this is not how we do this in Java, April 5, 2009

By 

lew "lwndw123" (Connecticut, USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Concurrent and Distributed Computing in Java (Hardcover)

This is almost verbatim copy of other book by the same author, but with pseudocode replaced by Java. Rather poor Java, nonprofessional and hard to read Java. Using Java instead pseudocode doesn't convert the original theoretical book into one that is easier for practitioners. There is nothing directly practical in this book.

If you want to study distributed systems, don't buy this book. Buy other book by the same autor - this other book (Elements of Distributed Computing) is highly recommended