MPCS 52083 Advanced Topics in Cloud Computing (Spring 2026)

Section 1
Instructor(s) Vasiliadis, Vasilios (vas)
Location None
Meeting Times
Fulfills Elective

Syllabus

Cloud infrastructure greatly simplifies the development of highly scalable applications, but operating these applications reliably and securely at scale introduces additional challenges. In this class we will explore approaches for meeting these challenges and develop an understanding of enabling technologies.

The class comprises three parts. The first part focuses on preparing an application for production operations and automating deployment of the application and its runtime infrastructure. The second part introduces security considerations and adds monitoring to the runtime environment. The third part explores ways to address some of the challenges faced by applications that deal with streaming data.

Additional information on topics, assignments, and grading is available at https://www.atmpcs.org

Course Prerequisites

B+ or above in MPCS 51083 Cloud Computing
MPCS 52553 Web Development (recommended)
MPCS 52040 Distributed Systems (recommended)

Other Prerequisites

Familiarity with shell scripting and data serialization/declarative languages such as YAML and JSON. No application-specific knowledge is assumed; we will provide introductory readings for each topic, but those with experience in the application areas covered may find the material easier to understand.

This course requires competency in Unix and Linux. If you attended the MPCS Unix Bootcamp you covered the required material. If you did not, please review the UChicago CS Student Resource Guide here: https://uchicago-cs.github.io/student-resource-guide/.

Course request information for non-MPCS students: https://masters.cs.uchicago.edu/student-resources/non-mpcs-student-course-requests/

Overlapping Classes

This class is scheduled at a time that does not conflict with any other classes this quarter.

Eligible Programs

MS in Computational Analysis in Public Policy (Year 2) Bx/MS in Computer Science (Option 2: Professionally-oriented - CS Majors) Bx/MS in Computer Science (Option 3: Profesionally-oriented - Non-CS Majors) Masters Program in Computer Science