CS 3113 - Fall 2001, Syllabus

Course Title: Introduction to Operating Systems

Instructor:
Dean Hougen, EL 128, 405-325-3150, hougen@ou.edu

Teaching Assistant:
Eric Diamond, egdyeman@ou.edu

Class Hours: Tuesday, Thursday 9:00-10:15, Carson Engineering Center 117

Office Hours:
Dean Hougen
T 2:00-3:00, Th 12:00-1:00, EL 152
Eric Diamond
M, W 11:30-12:30, EL 123

Text Books:
  • Operating Systems: A Modern Perspective, Second Edition, Gary Nutt, 2000, Addison-Wesley. (ISBN 0-201-61251-8)
  • UNIX System Programming, Second Edition, Keith Haviland, Dina Gray, and Ben Salama, 1999, Addison-Wesley. (ISBN 0-201-87758-9)
Students should read ahead the chapters that are expected to be covered in the class period. Students should always bring their textbook with them to class, including lectures and exams.

Communication:

The primary means of transmitting class information to the students will be through announcements during class time, announcements in the Message of the Day, and web pages.

The best way for students to communicate with the teaching staff is to come to scheduled office hours. If you cannot attend office hours in person, phone calls can be accepted but students present in the office will get priority. Email can also be used but a quick or detailed personal response is unlikely as we get a lot of email and responding to email can be very time consuming.

The best way for students to communicate with one another has yet to be determined.

Details of all of the communication methods follow.

WWW:
Information about this class will be found on the class website. The URL is
http://www.cs.ou.edu/~hougen/classes/Fall-2001/cs3113/
This page will contain links to the directory of class materials and announcements, the message of the day, and other important information.
Email:
Students should use the email addresses listed above. Note that we get a lot of email. Do not expect a reply in minutes; one or two days is more likely in most cases. If you have not heard back within five days, please resend your message, if it is still relevant.
MOTD:
A message of the day will be placed in the class file directory. To automatically view this file on login, students should add the command
cat ~hougen/www/classes/Fall-2001/cs3113/materials/MOTD
to their .login scripts.

Expectations and Goals:
The prerequisites for this course are Computer Science 2413 - Data Structures and 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 basic computer organization. This course will introduce students to operating systems theory and cover the principles of the systems programming. For topics covered, see the schedule.

Computer Accounts and Software:
All students in this class should have a CS account. This will be used for writing programs and sending and receiving materials electronically. All code written for this course MUST run using the compilers or interpreters that will be specified for the assignments. You may do your development work on whatever system you choose but it is your responsibility to ensure that your code runs on the school systems. To obtain a CS account, visit:
http://www.cs.ou.edu/students/account_request.shtml

Requirements:
The graded assignments and their contribution to a student's grade are given in the table below. (Subject to change.)

Item
Topic
Percent
Project 1
Project 2
Project 3
Project 4
Exam 1
Exam 2
Final Exam
I/O and Devices
Processes
File System
IPC
First 1/3
Second 1/3
Last 1/3
10%
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%
15%

All exams in this course are to be done ALONE; the work submitted by a student MUST be the student's own. Group work is required for the projects. Students may work in groups of two or more. The more people in the group, the harsher the grading will be.

All work in projects must properly cite sources. For example, if you quote a source in your project, you must include the quotation in quotation marks and clearly indicate the source of the quotation.

Assignments are due at the beginning of lecture (at 9:00) on the due date. Late assignments will be penalized 20% per day late. (All parts of days will be rounded up.) After five days, you will not be able to turn in that assignment for credit. If you are worried about turning in the assignment late and loosing points, turn in the assignment ahead of time. You will be turning in electronic and paper copies of all assignments. It is the electronic copy that must be turned in by class time on the day that it is due. The paper copy is due twenty four hours after the electronic copy. The paper copy may be submitted in class or turned in during office hours or by slipping it under my office door.

All exams will be open book/open notes. NO electronic devices will be permitted in the testing area.

Copying another's work, or possession of electronic computing or communication devices in the testing area, is cheating and grounds for penalties in accordance with school policies.

Accomodations:
Any Student with a disability should contact the instructor so that reasonable accomodations may be made for that student.