COMP 436/536   Secure and Cloud Computing

Instructor: Jiarong Xing, Office hour: Mon after class
TA: Yuning Xia, Office hour: TBD
Lectures: 4:00-5:15 pm, Monday & Wednesday
Location: DCH 1042
Piazza: https://piazza.com/rice/fall2025/comp436536

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Course Description

What is cloud computing, and how can we build cloud-scale services that stay performant and secure? This course takes a holistic tour of modern cloud infrastructure—beginning with foundational principles and progressing to cutting-edge topics that appear in today’s datacenters. We will cover:

• Virtualization and containerization
• Datacenter networking
• Efficient LLM inference and training at scale
• Serverless computing
• Concurrency, fault-tolerance, MapReduce, and P2P systems
• Network and cloud security

Throughout the semester students will engage with hands-on labs (e.g., network programming), homework assignments, and a project that applies these techniques to real systems.

Prerequisites

COMP 321 (Introduction to Computer Systems) or equivalent.

Format

The class meets twice per week. There will be regular homework assignments and a course project that requires a significant amount of hands-on implementation, experimental validation, as well as a written report.

Grading

• Homework – 30%
• Quizzes – 30%
• Project – 40%

Homework Assignments

Homework will be posted on Piazza. Submit your solutions to Canvas before the due time.

Accommodations

Students with a documented disability needing academic adjustments or accommodations are encouraged to contact the instructor and Disability Support Services (Allen Center, Room 111).

Tentative Schedule