ARCHIVE - Operating Systems Syllabus

Operating Systems

Student Originated Software

Fall,Winter Quarters, 2009-2010

Tue, Thu 10:00 am-12:00 pm, ACC

Web site: Academic Program Page

Professor: Neal Nelson

Office: Lab 1 2010

Phone: 867-6738

Email: nealn@evergreen.edu

Office Hours: By arrangement

Kernel Programming Consultant:

Sherri Shulman: sherri@evergreen.edu;

Textbooks:
Operating Systems by William Stallings
Kernel Projects for Linux, by Gary Nutt

Course Description

This component of the program covers operating system principles and concepts along with hands-on laboratory projects working with the Linux kernel.

By the end of this class you should understand fundamental operating system structures and algorithms and be able to investigate, read, and modify a code in a large body of code such as the Linux kernel.

References and Handouts

OS Fall-Winter Final Due Thursday at 5:00pm on paper under my office door or via electronic submit in text or pdf format.
OS Winter Midterm (doc)
OS Fall Midterm
Kernel Locking Techniques, an article by Robert Love in the Linux Journal.
Anatomy of Linux Synchronization Methods, an article by M. Tim Jones in IBM's DeveloperWorks.
The Linux Completely Fair Scheduler
The Linux O(1) Scheduler
What really happened on Mars - the Mars Pathfinder priority inversion problem
DMA and Cache Coherence

All OS Text Assignments
All OS Lab Assignments
Lab Handin Guide
OS Images for VirtualBox (vdi files) and big
Linux Kernel Source Code Index - A handy site thanks to Nik Nyby.
The Linux Kernel Module Programming Guide
Directory of all code samples
Stallings 5th Edition Operating Systems Textbook Website

Course Requirements

Evaluations are based on exams, textbook assignments and lab project assignments. Failure to complete exams will result in no credit. Failure to submit a sufficient number of assignments of adequate quality may result in loss of credit. Credit will be awarded on an all-or-nothing basis for this component of the program.
You may work in a group for lab assignments. For all collaborative work you must include the names of all contributors in your group. You must also clearly indicate your specific contribution to the completed work, for example, what parts of the code you altered, programmed, or tested. You must also include evidence that your program works as required (ie testing) or an explanation of the problems you encountered and how you attempted to solve them.
All exams are open book, open notes. All exams must be your own work exclusively.
Reading is due on Tuesday the week it is assigned. You should be prepared to answer or discuss lab readings in Nutt on Tuesday and the review questions at the end of the Stallings chapter on Thursday. Textbook problems and Lab assignments are due for discussion on the following Tuesday.

Course Calendar and Readings

Date	Topics Covered	Reading & Review Questions Due for Tue	Assignment due the following Tue
Week 1	Computer Architecture Review	Stallings Chapter 1 plus Appendix 1B	Problem set 1
Week 2	Operating System Overview	Stallings Chapter 2 Intro to C for Java Programmers	Lab Handin Guide Problem set 2 Lab 1 - C programming
Week 3	Process Management	Stallings Chapter 3 Nutt pp 1-29, 67-82	Problem set 3 Lab 2 - shell
Week 4	Threads, SMP, Microkernels	Stallings Chapter 4	Problem set 4
Week 5	Concurrency: Mutual Exclusion and Synchronization	Stallings Chapter 5 Nutt pp 29-65	Problem set 5 Lab 3 - Proc Filesystem
Week 6	Concurrency: Deadlock and Starvation	Stallings Chapter 6	Problem set 5 (cont)
Week 7	Concurrency: Deadlock and Starvation	Stallings Chapter 6 Nutt pp 83-96	Problem set 6 Lab 4 - Kernel Timers
Week 8	Memory Management	Stallings Chapter 7	Exam 1 in class Ch 1-6 Thursday
Week 9	Virtual Memory	Stallings Chapter 8 Nutt pp 97-106	Problem set 7 Lab 5 - Kernel Modules
Week 10	Completion of lab work		Problem set 8 Completion of lab work
Week 1 Winter	Completion of labs 1-5		Lab 6 - System Calls Completion of lab work
Week 2 Winter	Lab work catch-up		Completion of lab work
Week 3 Winter	Uniprocessor Scheduling	Stallings Chapter 9	Problem set 9 Lab 7 - Event Queues
Week 4	Labs 6-8		Problem set 9 Lab 7 & 8 - Event Queues
Week 5	Multiprocessor & Real Time Scheduling	Stallings Chapter 10	Problem set 10 Lab 7 & 8 - Event Queues
Week 6	Exam Chapters 1-10, Labs 1-6	Thursday at 10:00am
Week 7	File Systems	Stallings chapter 12	Lab 9 - Device Drivers
Week 8	Input/Output	Stallings Chapter 11
Week 9	Distributed Computing	Stallings Chapter 13
Week 10	Essay Exam covering Labs 1-9	Take Home on Monday Due Wednesday