EEE4775: Two different subjects share this number

Course Description

⚠⚠⚠ This is a disambiguation page. The course number EEE 4775 carries two genuinely different subjects at different Florida institutions.

They are not variants of one another. They share no significant content, no textbook, and no professional skill set. A transfer evaluator matching on the course number alone cannot tell them apart.

This page exists so that the bare number never silently stands for just one of the two readings. Choose the guide that matches the institution where the course was taken.

The two courses

	EEE4775-SCNS	EEE4775-UCF
Title	Massive Storage and I/O for Big Data Computing	Real-Time Systems
Who teaches it	The statewide SCNS catalog definition, taught at Florida International University	University of Central Florida
Subject	Storage hierarchies, magnetic and flash media, RAID, file systems, distributed and parallel file systems, replication and erasure coding, consistency, caching, I/O performance measurement	Real-time scheduling theory, rate-monotonic and earliest-deadline-first scheduling, response-time analysis, priority inversion and inheritance, worst-case execution time, real-time operating systems
Catalog description	“A broad introduction to the fundamentals of massive file storage systems and I/O architectures in big data computing and its enabling systems infrastructure.”	“Introduction to specification, analysis, design, and validation techniques for real-time (operating) systems with an emphasis on real-time scheduling theory.”
Prerequisite	EEL 4709C Computer Design, or instructor approval	COP 4600 Operating Systems, or EEL 4768 Computer Architecture, or EEL 4742C Embedded Systems
Credits	3	3
Typical destination	Storage engineering, site reliability engineering, data infrastructure, cloud platforms, database internals	Embedded and avionics software, automotive control, robotics, medical devices, safety certification
Full guide	EEE4775-SCNS	EEE4775-UCF

Which one did you take?

If you are unsure which subject your course covered, the fastest tests are:

Where did you take it? FIU → storage and I/O. UCF → real-time systems. This settles almost every case.
What was in the assessed work? If it involved RAID levels, file system structures, fio benchmarks or IOPS and latency measurement, it was the storage course. If it involved utilisation bounds, response-time recurrences, priority ceiling protocols or an RTOS, it was the real-time course.
What was the prerequisite you satisfied? Computer Design points to storage; Operating Systems, Computer Architecture or Embedded Systems points to real-time.

Why this matters, and what to do

⚠⚠ The transfer risk is real and is invisible until it matters

The Statewide Course Numbering System records this course, like most, as “guaranteed transfer to an institution offering the same course.” That guarantee provides no protection here, because the two Florida institutions carrying this number are not offering the same course. Credit will transfer; what the credit represents will not survive a number-based match.

Concretely: a student who took real-time systems at UCF and transfers to a programme that credits EEE 4775 as satisfying a storage or computer-systems requirement has been credited for something they did not study — and the reverse is equally possible. Neither error surfaces at the point of transfer. Both surface later, either at a degree audit or, worse, in a job for which the graduate is not actually prepared.

⚠ Note which side holds the statewide reading

The statewide catalog itself defines this number as the storage course, and FIU agrees with it. UCF holds the minority reading.

That asymmetry matters in one direction in particular. A UCF student transferring out is carrying a number that the state’s own record says means something else — so the mismatch will tend to be resolved against them unless they document what they actually took. UCF students should be especially careful to name the course by title and to keep the syllabus.

What to do

Always state the title alongside the number on transfer paperwork, graduate applications and résumés. “EEE 4775” alone is ambiguous; “EEE 4775 Real-Time Systems (UCF)” is not.
Keep the syllabus. It is the only document that settles which subject the number represented in your case, and a substitution committee will ask for it.
Keep a graded artefact — a schedulability analysis, an RTOS project, a storage benchmark study. Concrete work is more persuasive than any description.
If a degree requirement names EEE 4775, confirm with an advisor which subject the requirement means before registering, and do not assume your institution’s reading is the one intended.
If you are choosing between institutions and want one subject specifically, check the catalog rather than the number.

Both are worthwhile courses

Nothing here is a criticism of either course. Both are senior-level electives in active, well-paid areas, and both are taught to a serious standard. Storage and I/O leads toward data infrastructure, cloud platforms and site reliability engineering; real-time systems leads toward embedded, avionics, automotive and safety-critical software — a particularly strong path in Florida given the state’s aerospace and defence concentration.

The problem is not the courses. It is the number they share.

Special Information

Related courses across Florida

Because this number is unreliable, students looking for either subject elsewhere in Florida should search by content:

Storage and I/O systems — usually covered inside operating systems courses (COP 4600) and computer architecture courses (EEL 4768, CDA prefix); dedicated courses are rare at undergraduate level. Distributed systems and big data courses under COP and CIS prefixes cover adjacent ground.
Real-time systems — usually covered inside embedded systems courses (EEL 4742C at UCF and equivalents elsewhere) and operating systems courses; dedicated undergraduate courses are uncommon, and the subject appears more often at graduate level.

⚠ SCNS equivalency does not cross course numbers or prefixes. In either direction, expect this course to articulate as a technical elective rather than as a named requirement, and raise any substitution with an advisor in the term you transfer rather than at a final-year audit.

Articulation and transfer

Both readings are upper-division, carry 3 credits, and have no general-education or Gordon Rule designation.