A Curriculum Initiative on Parallel and Distributed Computing - Toward Core Topics for Undergraduates

并行和分布式计算（PDC）现在渗透到大多数计算活动中。这项技术在日常生活中的渗透，使得普通用户依赖于它的有效性和可靠性。多核和通用图形处理单元在家庭和办公室pc和笔记本电脑中的大规模销售，有可能使普通用户也成为技术贡献者。当然，对于基本的程序员来说，仅仅掌握传统的编程技能已经不够了。所有这些现象都表明，需要在各个层面上传授并行和分布式计算方面的广泛技能，这将影响计算机科学（CS）和计算机工程（CE）课程以及相关的计算学科。然而，计算硬件平台和设备、语言和支持编程环境的快速变化，以及研究的进步，比以往任何时候都更挑战教育者在任何给定学期中决定教什么。学生和他们未来的雇主在什么是基本专业知识方面面临着类似的挑战。我们的愿景是让所有利益相关者专家一起工作，并定期提供有关并行和分布式计算相关的各种课程和模块的标准课程重组指导。直接的好处是为CS/CE学生和他们的教师提供关于哪些方面应该在哪些课程中学习的定期指导。大学（国内和国际）的新课程将获得在计算机科学、工程或计算科学课程中设置课程和/或整合并行性的指导。雇主对学生的PDC技能有明确的期望。这同样有助于现有专业人员的再培训和认证。作为背景准备，2010年2月举办了一个规划研讨会，探讨并行和分布式教育中的课程状况，评估需求，提供行动计划，并就如何最好地满足短期和长期课程需求提出机制建议。规划讲习班及其相关活动吸引了来自各利益攸关方的专家。本文的主要任务是为CS/CE学生的本科课程提出一套并行和分布式计算的核心主题。对于编程、算法和架构三个子领域中的各种主题，预期的可交付成果是(i)学习成果，（ii）覆盖水平（Bloom的分类），以及（iii）如何教授每个主题的示例。在2010年夏季，我们的目标是公开发布初步课程，收集各利益相关者的反馈，并确定和招聘同事，他们将在2010年秋季和2011年春季试用拟议课程的各个方面。接下来，在这两个学期中，活动将包括监督和支持课程以及收集教师和学生的反馈。我们更大的目标是让学生为他们未来的职业生涯做好充分的准备，以适应技术变革和多核和gpu的大规模营销，并对包括雇主、作者和教育工作者在内的所有利益相关者产生真正的影响。这一课程指南及其轨迹，以及定期反馈和其他采用和使用的评估数据，也将有助于指导公司雇用学生和实习生，硬件和软件供应商，当然，还有作者和研究人员。

Parallel and Distributed Computing (PDC) now permeates most computing activities. The penetration of this technology in the daily lives has resulted in common users relying on its effectiveness and reliability. The mass marketing of multicores and general-purpose graphics processing units in home and office PCs and laptops has a potential for empowering even common users to become technology contributors. Certainly, it is no longer sufficient for even basic programmers to acquire only the conventional programming skills. All these phenomena point to the need for imparting a broad-based skill set in parallel and distributed computing at various levels, impacting Computer Science (CS) and Computer Engineering (CE) programs and related computational disciplines. However, the rapid change in computing hardware platforms and devices, languages, and supporting programming environments, and the research advances, more than ever challenges the educators in deciding what to teach in any given semester. Students and their future employers face similar challenges on what constitutes basic expertise.Our vision is bringing all stakeholder experts working together and periodically providing guidance on restructuring standard curriculum across various courses and modules related to parallel and distributed computing. Immediate benefit would be providing CS/CE students and their instructors with periodic guidelines on which aspects to cover in which courses. New programs at colleges (nationally and internationally) will receive guidance in setting up courses and/or integrating parallelism in the Computer Science or Engineering or Computational Science curriculum. Employers would have well defined expectations from students on PDC skills. This will similarly help in retraining and certifications of existing professionals. As background preparation, a planning workshop was held in Feb 2010 to explore the state of curriculum in parallel and distributed education, assess the needs, provide action plans and recommend mechanisms for how best to address the curricular needs in both the short and long terms. The planning workshop and its related set of activities have drawn experts from various stakeholders.The primary task is to propose a set of core topics in parallel and distributed computing for undergraduate curriculum for CS/CE students. For various topics in the three sub-areas of Programming, Algorithms, and Architecture, the expected deliverables are (i) learning outcomes, (ii) level of coverage (Bloom's classification), and (iii) examples of how to teach each topic. In summer 2010, we aim to carry out a public release of preliminary curriculum, collect feedback from various stakeholders, and identify and recruit colleagues who will try out aspects the proposed curriculum during fall 2010 and spring 2011. Following these, during these two semesters, the activities will include monitoring and supporting the courses and feedback collection from instructors and students.Our larger goal is to enable students to be fully prepared for their future careers in light of the technological shifts and mass marketing of multicores and GPUs and to make real impact on all the stakeholders including employers, authors, and educators. This curricular guidance and its trajectory, along with periodic feedback and other evaluation data on adoption and use, will also help steer companies hiring students and interns, hardware and software vendors, and, of course, the authors and researchers.