Syllabus: CS 3113: Introduction to Operating Systems (Fall 2019)

Successfully learning operating systems means understanding computer science theory, algorithms, data structures and system-level programming. This operating systems course will include activities to support all of these. As a computer scientist or a computer engineer, this course will be extremely beneficial, but will also be a lot of work. Students should be prepared to spend several hours a week outside of class studying and working on assignments.

Lectures will be a mix of traditional lectures, class discussions, live programming examples and other activities. Participation is necessary to get the most out of the class.

Topics

• C programming
• Low-level representation of data
• File systems: abstraction to implementation
• Processes
• Threads
• CPU Scheduling
• Synchronization of processes and threads
• Deadlock
• Memory management and virtual memory
• Virtual machines

ABET Student Outcomes

• C: An ability to design, implement, and evaluate a computer-based system, process, component, or program to meet desired needs.
• E4: An understanding of security issues and responsibilities.
• I: An ability to apply mathematical foundations, algorithmic principles, and computer science theory in the modeling and design of computer-based systems in a way that demonstrates comprehension of the trade-offs involved in design choices.

General Information

• Meeting time: Tu/Th 1:30 - 2:45pm

• Location: Nielsen Hall 170

• Prerequisites: The prerequisites for this course are CS 2413 - Data Structures and CS 2613 - Computer Organization (or ECE 3223). If you have not taken these courses, you will need instructor permission to take 3113. You are expected to have a working knowledge of C++, including a familiarity with its basic data types and control structures, and an understanding of computer organization.

• Textbook: Silberschatz, Galvin and Gagne (2018) Operating Systems Concepts, Tenth Edition, ISBN-13: 9781119320913
  • Electronic version is available through the OU Bookstore

• Course web page: http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg/classes/cs3113

• We will make heavy use of Canvas

• Instructor: Dr. Andrew H. Fagg
  • Office: Devon Energy Hall 243
  • Phone: 325-8606
  • Homepage: http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg
  • Email: andrewhfagg--gmail.com
  • Office hours: see the office hours web page: http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg/office.html

• Teaching Assistant: Dorian Selimovic
  
  • Office location: Devon Energy Hall 115
  • Office hours: see the office hours web page http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg/office.html

• Teaching Assistant: Gregory Maddra
  
  • Office location: Devon Energy Hall 115
  • Office hours: see the office hours web page http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg/office.html

Course Policies

• Attendance: We will discuss concepts and examples in class that are not in the assigned readings. Another student's notes are an inadequate substitute for class attendance. You are responsible for everything that is announced in class.

• Readings: You are responsible for the material contained within the readings on the day that they are indicated on the class schedule. I will typically address questions about these at the beginning of the lecture. The lecture material and/or in-class assignment/quiz for the day will assume that you have read these materials.

• Class Web Page: Most of the material that you will need can be found on the class web page located at:
  http://www.cs.ou.edu/~fagg/classes/cs3113

• Canvas: This class will also use Canvas for course management, located at: http://canvas.ou.edu

  Login with your 4+4, using your standard OU password. If you have difficulty logging in, call 325-HELP. This software provides a number of useful features, including announcements, the grade book, discussion areas and quizzes.

  I may update the main web site and the Canvas page several times a week. When I update either site in any significant way, I will post an announcement on Canvas telling you what has been added and where it is located. You are responsible for things posted on the sites within 48 hours of the post.

• Class Communication:
  • The class period will be a mixture of lecture, programming examples and exercises. Your active participation will result in a more salient experience.

  • Outside of class, the discussion group on Canvas should be the primary method of communication. This allows everyone in the class to benefit from the answers to your questions, and provides students with more timely answers since the TAs and I check Canvas at least once a day.

  • Matters of personal interest should be directed to email instead of to the newsgroup, e.g. informing me of an extended personal illness. The email address cs3113 at googlegroups.com will direct your email to all teaching personnel. You may also send email to one of the teaching personnel. See the the office hours page for a full list of our email addresses. Note: Any email messages to the professors or teaching assistants must include "CS 3113" in the subject line.

  • Announcements by the instructor or the TA will be posted to the Canvas announcement board. It is your responsibility to have Canvas configured so that you receive these messages in a timely fashion. Note that Canvas can be configured so that it will forward messages, discussion posts and announcements directly to your email address.

  • If you need assistance in configuring Canvas, contact OU IT at 325-HELP.

• Examinations: There will be a midterm and a final examination. The dates are given in the class schedule. During examinations, students are expected to sit in assigned seats. Missing an examination without a previously approved excuse will result in a grade of zero for that examination. The final is comprehensive, as required by College of Engineering policy. No final examinations can be given early, except as required by University policy.

• Academic Conduct:
  • Feel free to discuss any assignments or exercises with the instructor or the TAs.

  • You may make use of the Internet as a reference as you are working on homework and projects. However, downloading or copying specific exercise or project solutions from the Internet is considered cheating.

  • Homework assignments and in-class quizzes: do not discuss, look at, or copy another student's solution to an assignment, as this is considered cheating.

  • Projects: you may discuss a solution of a project with other students in the class. If you do so, then you must document in your submission the nams of these students. However, do not look at or copy another student's solution to a project, as this is considered cheating.

  • Make sure that your computer accounts are properly protected. Use a strong password, and do not give your friends access to your account or your computer system. Do not leave printouts, or thumb drives around a laboratory where others might access them.

  • Programming projects will be checked by software designed to detect collaboration. This software is extremely effective and has withstood repeated reviews by the campus judicial processes.

  • Upon the first documented occurrence of inappropriate collaborative work, I will report the academic misconduct to the Campus Judicial Coordinator. The procedure to be followed is documented in the University of Oklahoma Academic Misconduct Code (http://integrity.ou.edu).

• Tutors: Tutors can be an excellent source of support for students who are having difficulty in the class, but only if the tutor is aware of the distinction between teaching students the material so that they can do their own work, and doing work for students. Tutors who do work for students are not only failing to help the students learn, they are abetting academic misconduct. Examples of misconduct include:
  • If your tutor is sitting behind you while you are typing and methodically telling you what to enter, he or she is abetting academic misconduct.
  • If your tutor is emailing files containing partial or complete programming projects to you, you will commit academic misconduct if you use those lines in your program.

  A more effective use of tutoring services is to do problems that are similar to the assigned work, instead of doing assigned work. For example, it would be fine to work unassigned problems from the textbook with a tutor. This requires significant discipline, both on the part of the tutor and the part of the student. Copying from a tutor is as unacceptable as copying from another student. If your tutor doesn't know how to teach properly, please ask them to call or visit me and I will provide training and guidance. If you are tutoring someone else in the class, you can be accused of academic misconduct if this person copies your work.

• Incompletes: The grade of "I" is intended for the rare circumstance when a student who has been successful in a class has an unexpected event occur shortly before the end of the class. I will not consider giving a student a grade of "I" unless the following three conditions have been met:
  • It is within two weeks of the end of the semester.
  • The student has a grade of C or better in the class.
  • The reason that the student cannot complete the class is properly documented and compelling.

• Accommodation of Disabilities: The University of Oklahoma is committed to providing reasonable accommodation for all students with disabilities. Students with disabilities who require accommodations in this course are requested to speak with the professor as early in the semester as possible. Students with disabilities must be registered with the Office of Disability Services prior to receiving accommodations in this course. The Office of Disability Services is located in Goddard Health Center, Suite 166, phone 405/325-3852 or TDD only 405/325-4173.

• Classroom Conduct: Because cell phones and laptops can distract substantially from the classroom experience, students are asked not to use either during class, except where these are required as part of a classroom exercise.

  Disruptions of class will also not be permitted. Examples of disruptive behavior include:

  • Allowing a cell phone or pager to repeatedly beep audibly.
  • Playing music or computer games during class in such a way that they are visible or audible to other class members.
  • Exhibiting erratic or irrational behavior.
  • Behavior that distracts the class from the subject matter or discussion.
  • Making physical or verbal threats to a faculty member, teaching assistant, or class member.
  • Refusal to comply with faculty direction.

  In the case of disruptive behavior, I may ask that you leave the classroom and may charge you with a violation of the Student Code of Responsibilities and Conduct.

• Laptop Computers: It is the responsibility of each student in this class to have a working laptop computer with ample battery (at least 2 hours of life under moderate usage) and wireless Internet connectivity. You should bring the laptop computer to class so that you can follow along with the live programming exercises and can participate in the in-class quizzes and other activities. If your computer requires repair during the semester, it is your responsibility to make arrangements to have another computer available and to get the necessary software installed. There exist campus resources (including financial help) to repair broken computers; please see the instructors if you would like information about these programs. Note that temporarily borrowing a computer from a fellow student in the class can present a number of problems, including the potential for academic misconduct.

• Backups: Back up your class data on a regular basis in case you need to drop back to an older version of your code or you need to shift your class activities to another computer. Make sue to secure these backups.

Grades

• Midterm exam: 15%
• Final exam: 15%
• Homework assignments: 15% (equally distributed across N exercises; keep N-1)
• In class quizzes and activities: 15% (equally distributed across M quizzes/activities; keep M-1)
• Projects: 40% (equally distributed across 5 projects)

Although the lowest grade in the homework and quiz categories will be dropped, explicitly skipping an assignment or exercise is unwise, as you miss out on the experience of doing the exercise and you may perform even worse on a future exercise.

Grading notes:

• Final grades: the cut point between letter grades will be decided at the end of the semester. Cut points will not be any higher than the traditional 90/80/70 scheme, but they do tend to be close to these values.

• Grade questions: All grade questions should first be brought to the individual who performed the assessment (the TA or the instructor). Questions that are not resolved with the TA may then be brought to the instructor. All concerns about the grading of assignments must be brought to our attention within one week of when the item was returned/graded.

• Canvas Grade Summary: Canvas has a grade book that is used to store the raw data that is used to calculate your course grade. It is the responsibility of each student in this class to check their grades on Canvas after each assignment is returned. If an error is found, bring the graded document to me or the TA, and we will correct Canvas.

• Examination Grading Questions: Questions about examination grading must be addressed within one week of the exam being returned to the class.

Projects and Homework

• Homework assignments are intended to be short exercises that are doable within an hour or two.

• A total of five Projects will be given over the course of the semester. Other than Project 0, the projects will be nontrivial, requiring a substantial amount of planning, programming and debugging. We encourage you to budget your time well for these.

• Due dates:
  • Projects and homework assignments are due at 11:45pm on the date that is listed in the "Due" column on the class schedule.
  • Quizzes will be due in class.

• Hand-in procedure:
  • We will use Canvas and Gradescope to hand in assignments. See the corresponding assignment description for details.

• Late policy:
  • Because late assignments will seriously impact your ability to follow the next section of the course, you are required to complete the homework assignments on time. No late assignments will be accepted. Likewise, in-class quizzes and exercises cannot be made up.

  • Projects may be handed in late. If late by 0-24 hours, the project grade will incur a 10% penalty; if late by 24-48 hours, a 20% penalty will be imposed. Projects that have not been handed in by 48 hours will receive no credit. Handing in a late project should only be used in very dire circumstances (consider the trade-off in the possible grades before you make this choice).

Other Details

Course Evaluations

Adjustments for Pregnancy/Childbirth Related Issues

Title IX Resources

Religious Observance

Final Exam Preparation Period

Emergency Protocol

• Severe Weather: If you receive an OU Alert to seek refuge or hear a tornado siren that signals severe weather 1. LOOK for severe weather refuge location maps located inside most OU buildings near the entrances 2. SEEK refuge inside a building. Do not leave one building to seek shelter in another building that you deem safer. If outside, get into the nearest building. 3. GO to the building's severe weather refuge location. If you do not know where that is, go to the lowest level possible and seek refuge in an innermost room. Avoid outside doors and windows. 4. GET IN, GET DOWN, COVER UP. 5. WAIT for official notice to resume normal activities.

  Links: Severe Weather Refuge Areas, Severe Weather Preparedness

• Armed Subject/Campus Intruder: If you receive an OU Alert to shelter-in-place due to an active shooter or armed intruder situation or you hear what you perceive to be gunshots: 1. GET OUT: If you believe you can get out of the area WITHOUT encountering the armed individual, move quickly towards the nearest building exit, move away from the building, and call 911. 2. HIDE OUT: If you cannot flee, move to an area that can be locked or barricaded, turn off lights, silence devices, spread out, and formulate a plan of attack if the shooter enters the room. 3. TAKE OUT: As a last resort fight to defend yourself.

  Links: OU Emergency Preparedness, Responding to Gunshots

• Fire Alarm/General Emergency: If you receive an OU Alert that there is danger inside or near the building, or the fire alarm inside the building activates: 1. LEAVE the building. Do not use the elevators. 2. KNOW at least two building exits 3. ASSIST those that may need help 4. PROCEED to the emergency assembly area 5. ONCE safely outside, NOTIFY first responders of anyone that may still be inside building due to mobility issues. 6. WAIT for official notice before attempting to re-enter the building.

  Links: OU Fire Safety on Campus

Registration and Withdrawal

Copyright notice: Many of the materials created for this course are the intellectual property of Andrew H. Fagg. This includes, but is not limited to, the syllabus, lectures and course notes. Except to the extent not protected by copyright law, any use, distribution or sale of such materials requires the permission of the instructor.