Graduate Courses on Large Scale Web Applications

Question

I recently came across Erlang, the programming language, and I've become interested in developing large scale real-time browser based web-applications. I'd like to know if there are any graduate courses, anywhere in the US, which will teach me about writing scalable web-aplications or something similar.

Answer 1

Personally I think you are in the best place right now to learn about "writing scalable web-applications". Nobody is better to learn from than the people who have done it.

I would just start trying to write a web application and ask questions about area's as you go.

Answer 2

Writing scalable web applications, like many things, is a bit of a dark art in some respects. Not all techniques are well documented, and the Internet is very young in terms of powerhouses of servers running applications. You must first understand the theory of distributed application architectures and their problems (bottlenecks, concurrent state). Then apply this to the application platform you are using. In this case Erlang, where alot works out of the box anyway.

1. Learn the language
2. Know what you want to build
3. How have others done similar?
4. Get Coding

In terms of scalability ... their is general theory and then application. Different apps will require different approaches which heavily depend on the platform used too.

The best thing to do is get building and read about the theory as you go along. It will be a steep curve. Also look at case studies.

Answer 3

I recommend visiting Highscalability.com.

They focus on breaking down issues that large-scale websites have had and how they are being solved.