Welcome to the message of the day. If you have made it this far, you are doing fine. Prof. Hougen, 10 August 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those of you wanting to install Linux on your personal machine(s) to work in parallel with the lab machines, the Linux version we are using is Fedora Core 2 (FC2). The Linux Special Interest Group (LinuxSIG) of the Computer Club of Oklahoma City (CCOKC) will be hosting an Linux install-a-thon on Thursday, Sept. 2 (tomorrow!), at 6:30. You are welcome to attend and get help installing Linux on your machine. FC2 will be one of the Linux versions available to you at that event. See for details. (This is not an endorsement of these groups. I don't know anything more about them than is found on their websites. I was not even aware that either existed until I heard about them through the student chapter of the ACM here at OU. I'd be interested in getting feedback on them from anyone who knows more or attends this event.) Prof. Hougen, 1 September 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that my office hours for next week will be "reversed." That is, I will hold one office hour Tuesday September 7 from 11:30 to 12:30 (rather than 10:30 to 11:30) and one Thursday September 9 from 10:30 to 11:30 (rather than 11:30 to 12:30). My apologies for the late notification. Prof. Hougen, 2 September 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project 1 has been posted on the class web pages under "Assignments and Solutions." Prof. Hougen, 15 September 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Project 2 has been posted on the class web pages under "Assignments and Solutions." Prof. Hougen, 13 October 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Examples of top quality assignments turned in for project 1 have been posted to the BlackBoard pages for this class. Prof. Hougen, 13 October 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As discussed in class this morning, a major disk failure has happened on the shared disk used by students in 3113. The drive has been replaced and the system is up and running again. Unfortunately, not only has this taken the system offline for several hours (Monday night until early Tuesday afternoon), much of the new data from the weekend through Monday when the crash occurred, appears to be permanently lost. My apologies for this difficultly. Jim Summers is doing an excellent job with the resources available to him. However, we certainly need better hardware. We need a RAID disk and a more automated tape backup system. If you have been emailing files between group members using non-CSN email accounts as suggested in class as a method of file sharing, then you may not have lost too much effort, since this has the side effect of making off site project backups (always desirable). Or, if you have been following Jim Summers' advice in his intro to Linux courses to use sftp to make backups to other machines off site, you also may not have lost too much. Nonetheless, I will grant an extension to the project deadline until 9:00 pm on Monday, Nov. 1. Prof. Hougen, 26 October 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Class will be canceled on Thursday, November 11, 2004. I will be attending the Synthetic Biology Symposium to be held that day in the Stephenson Research and Technology Center on the new South Research Campus. Rather than finding an alternate way of holding class (e.g., bringing in someone else to lead the lecture/discussion), I encourage you to attend the symposium as well. Why should you attend a symposium on biology? It is on Synthetic Biology. What is Synthetic Biology? From the FAQ for the symposium: "What is Synthetic Biology? It is simplest to understand using computer terminology. Essentially, DNA is a programming language suitable for biological processes, one capable of specifying a single protein or the metabolism of an entire organism. The complete genomes of over 150 species are available for analysis, including the human genome; this is equivalent to viewing a program's "source code". Synthetic Biology may facilitate the design and testing of new genomic programs." So, you should attend a symposium on Synthetic Biology because, as developing Computer Scientists, Synthetic Biology is both (1) a fascinating way for you to learn about what programs are and how they can be developed and (2) a possible career path for you into an exciting new field. This is particularly relevant for students in an OS class because, as Zoology Professor Tom Ray (who will be kicking off the symposium with his introductory remarks) put it when he encouraged me to invite you, "DNA is the Operating System code for the body." For more information or to register, please see: Note that registration is free(!) but limited. I encourage you to register early. I hope to see you all there. Prof. Hougen, 28 October 2004 P.S. If you don't know who Tom Ray is, you should. He is one of the primary founders of the field of Artificial Life and is well-known for his work world-wide. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Please note that my office hour for this Thursday (November 11) will be moved to Friday from 3:00 to 4:00. Prof. Hougen, 9 November 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As discussed in class, my office hours for this week will be held on Friday, Nov. 19, from 1:00 to 3:00. Prof. Hougen, 18 November 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As discussed in class, Project 3 was posted last week and Project 4 was posted this week. Note that Project 4 is an extra credit project only. You are NOT required to complete Project 4 in order to get full credit in this class. Prof. Hougen, 23 November 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- As discussed in class today, the deadlines for Projects 3 and 4 have been moved to 9:00 pm on Sunday, December 5. If you need additional time for one or both of these projects, you will need to get special permission from me by talking to me during office hours. Additional time will be given only in exceptional circumstances, not as a general extension. Prof. Hougen, 30 November 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- For those of you having trouble completing Project 4, try ports in the range of 11000 to 11700. Prof. Hougen, 6 December 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- CORRECTION: The office hours for our TA Pedro Diaz-Gomez will be moved next week (finals week) to Monday 10:00 to 12:00. My own office hours will he held as scheduled. We can also meet you by appointment. Prof. Hougen, 9 December 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- REMINDER: Your final exam will be Thursday, 16 December, 8:00 to 10:00 am. Note that, while you will have two hours to complete the exam, I do not plan to make it longer than the previous two exams. Prof. Hougen, 9 December 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: I will not be available to hold my regularly-scheduled office hours tomorrow (Tuesday, Dec. 14). However, I will try to be around most of the day for questions. My apologies for the late notice. Prof. Hougen, 13 December 2004 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NOTE: I will also not be available to hold my regularly-scheduled office hours on Thursday (Dec. 16). I will plan to be in my office after 1:00 on Thursday, for those students who wish to meet at that time. Prof. Hougen, 14 December 2004