CS414 Operating System - Overview and Organization (Spring 2008)

CS414: Operating Systems - Overview and Organization

Course Overview. This course is an introduction to the design and implementation of systems software, with an emphasis on multiprogrammed operating systems. Topics include concurrency, synchronization, deadlock, memory management, input-output methods, information sharing, security, and file systems. The impact of network and distributed computing environments on operating systems is also discussed.

Co-registration in the course practicum, CS415, is required. Thus, all students this semester will have an opportunity to put into practice ideas that we cover.

Course URL: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/Courses/CS414/2008SP/

Lecture: Attendance is required. All students are responsible for announcements made in lecture and material that is covered in lecture. The material covered in lecture will compliment the textbook rather than simply repeating what you are reading. There is also a set of on-line ppt notes, which closely parallel the textbook and could be useful to those who want yet a third view of the material.

10:10 -- 11:25am Tuesday and Thursday. Thurston 205.

If you must be absent from a class session, make arrangements with another student to find out what you missed.

Instructor:

Professor Fred B. Schneider (255-9221) 4115C Upson Hall

Office hours: Available after class and most afternoons, Tuesday through Thursday. Please feel free to drop by without an appointment.

email: fbs@cs.cornell.edu. Email is great for questions that require a short answer and don't require much context. But email is a horrible way to have a conversation, so most questions about course content and procedures are better discussed in person. Besides, live interactions are more fun and more efficient. Email is a sensible way to set up an appointment to speak in person with the instructor---include choices for days and times (late afternoons are a good bet) that you are available; email is virtually never a good way to seek the answer to a technical question.

Other Staff:

Barry Burton	burton@cs.cornell.edu	The person to see for matters regarding CS415.
Lakshmi Ganesh	lakshmi@cs.cornell.edu
Ben Krafft	bsk26@cornell.edu
Tom Roeder	tmroeder@cs.cornell.edu
Oleg Sagalchik	os36@cornell.edu

TA Office Hours: Upson 328B Bay A. Office hours start Monday, January 28:

Mon.	3:30 - 5:00 (Lakshmi Ganesh)
Tues.	Attend CS415
Wed.	3:30 - 5:00 (Ben Krafft)
Thurs.	3:30 - 5:00 (Oleg Segalchik)
Fri.	3:30 - 5:00 (Barry Burton)

Prerequisites. The course is open to any undergraduate or graduate student who has mastered the material in CS314 or CS316.

Reading: Readings that complement the lectures are noted in the course outline. Students are responsible for the material covered by these readings in addition to the material covered in lecture.
Most of the readings come from the sole (required) text for the course:

Abraham Silberschatz, Greg Gagne, and Peter Galvin. Operating System Concepts, Seventh Edition. John Wiley and Sons, 2005. ISBN 0-471-69466-5.

Assignments and Grading. Your final course grade will be computed as follows:

40% Homeworks. There will be 4 - 6 short written assignments. Students are expected to work alone on each.
30% Prelims. There will be 2 in-class written prelim examinations. The date of each will be announced in class a week or so before the exam, so it is a good idea to stay current on the material. No provision is available for make-up exams.
20% Final. This is a cumulative examination, offered during finals period. The exam will be optional for students who have submitted all homeworks and taken both prelims. Taking the final exam can raise or lower your final course grade.
10% Entirely Subjective Factors. These include attendance, in-class participation, and solving extra credit assignments that might be posed in lecture from time to time. This typically affects only a handful of students, raising or lowering their final course grade by 1/2 letter grade.

All assignments are due when stipulated so that correct answers can be freely discussed after the due date. Late submissions are not accepted without prior approval from the instructor.

Academic integrity violations will be prosecuted aggressively. You may not collaborate with anyone on the assigned homeworks (or the exams). For purposes of academic integrity, "collaboration" includes discussing the questions or the answers or using material prepared (this semester or any past semester) by somebody else in working out your solution to an assignment.

Students are expected to be familiar with the University's and the CS Department's various policies on appropriate use of computers.