CS 4410 (Summer 2013)
Operating Systems

Cornell University
School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions
Department of Computer Science



Course Aims and Objectives

CS4410 is a course that provides an in-depth view of operating system (OS) design and implementation. It covers general principles, software implementation techniques and various OS interfaces. More concretely, by the end of this course we will be able to:

Format and Procedures

The summer edition of CS4410 is designed around building knowledge through immediate practice of newly learned principles, coupled with regular feedback and recapitulation. In order for this to be achieved, we follow the road-map below:

Prerequisites

The prerequisites for this course is CS 3410 or 3420. The prerequisite materials ensure that the students have a concrete view of computer architecture and low level programming at the start of the course.

Course Readings

The textbook for the course is:

Operating System Concepts (8th Edition) Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne.

Homework Policy

There will be weekly assignments on which the students are expected to work independently. The assignments are a way of revising the knowledge achieved during the lecture and so it is a way to test our understanding. We will have other opportunities during the lectures to collaborate on problem solving. Each assignment will have a theoretical and a practical part; the former will develop our critical skills and the latter our implementation skills. The practical part will include programing in Python. Finally, I will do my best to assign the homeworks while the relevant material is being taught and not after its completion. I will inform you about the exercises to be completed after each lecture. In that way, we will try to, simultaneously, learn and practice. This policy will prevent us from cramming at the end of the course.

In-class exams

After the grading of each assignment, we will have a fifteen- to thirty- minute in-class exam that will provide feedback for the material covered in the corresponding assignment. These exams will be given every Monday (except for the first two), at the beginning of the class. During the writing, you should not advocate any other source (book, assignment solution, etc).

Final Exam

Date: June 28th
Time: 8.30am-9.45am
Place: Upson Hall 207

Class Attendance and Participation Policy

According to the School of Continuing Education and Summer Sessions, "Students are expected to regularly and punctually attend all courses in which they are enrolled. If you miss a class or seminar, it is your obligation to let the instructor know why and to provide documentation that you were seen at Gannett Health Services or another health care facility". Students are expected to attend all the lectures and keep up with the schedule and the rhythm of the course. Since the course is interactive, participation through questions, group discussions and observations will be rewarded.

Grading

The grading scale will be from A+ to F, on an absolute, non-curved, scale. The final grading policy is approximatelly:

Academic Integrity

As with all other classes at Cornell, you are expected to maintain a high level of ethical standards and integrity in this course. This means that all work you submit must be the result of your own individual effort. You may discuss homework problems with other students in the class, but you may not collaborate on the actual writing of the problem sets or development of solutions. Under no circumstances would it be acceptable for two or more students to turn in substantially similar answers to a homework problem, or to have possession of each others' homeworks. Everyone with whom you discussed the homework set must be cited on the submitted homeworks. No part of the homework may be copied from or be based on solution sets on the web - also keep in mind that the solution sets on the web are often incomplete and incorrect. Any violations of the academic integrity code will be penalized according to the Cornell Academic Integrity Policy, and may result in failure in the course, suspension, or expulsion from the university.