Operating Systems Lecture Notes

18 January 2012 • Introduction

---

Course Description

• An introductory operating systems course.
  • Inside the operating system, mostly.
  • This is a programming course.
• Prereqs:
  • 438: Architecture (286) and data structures (305).
  • 505: Data structures (503) and programming (509).

Classes

• Classes meet Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7:50 p.m in HH 209.
  • No classes Monday and Wednesday, 12 & 14 March.
  • Midterms due Tuesday, 13 March.
  • Drop day Monday, 26 March.

Objectives

• Learn OS basics: purpose, mechanism, and design.
  • The major OS parts and their interactions.
  • Basic understanding of (idealized) dynamic behavior.
  • Judge OS suitability and quality.
• Maintain your balance on uneven and rapidly changing terrain.

Instructor

• Richard Clayton, HH 318 (the adjunct’s office).
  • rclayton@monmouth.edu
• Office hours Mondays and Wednesdays, 5 to 5:50, in HH 318.
  • Make an appointment for other times.

Grading

• Grading comes from tests and programming assignments.
  • Three tests, roughly one a month.
  • Four programming assignments, roughly one every three weeks.
• No other grade sources: not attendance, not class participation, not …
  • In particular, no mid-term or final exams.

Grades

• The final grade is the straight, weighted average of the six highest test and assignment grades.
  • The lowest overall test or assignment grade is dropped.
• The undergraduate mid-term grade is the straight, unweighted average of all accumulated grades.
  • The lowest grade is not dropped.
• No grades are scaled to a curve.

Grade Ranges

• I use the usual grade ranges:

  Undergraduates (438):		Graduates (505):
  95 ≤ A 90 ≤ A- < 95 86.6 ≤ B+ < 90 83.3 ≤ B < 86.6 80 ≤ B- < 83.3 76.6 ≤ C+ < 80 73.3 ≤ C < 76.6 70 ≤ C- < 73.3 60 ≤ D < 70 F < 60		95 ≤ A 90 ≤ A- < 95 86.6 ≤ B+ < 90 83.3 ≤ B < 86.6 80 ≤ B- < 83.3 76.6 ≤ C+ < 80 73.3 ≤ C < 76.6 70 ≤ C- < 73.3 F < 70

Textbook

• There is a textbook for this class.
• Pick your own textbook.
  • But make sure you have at least one.
  • There is a textbook for this class.
• Compare table of contents and index against the syllabus.
• Don’t forget a Java book or two for the project.

E-Mail

• Make sure your e-mail works, and you know how to work it.
• The class e-mail address is 12sp_CS43850 or 12sp_CS50550.
  • Mail to each goes to everybody in that class.
  • Mail to one doesn’t go to the other.

E-Mail Archive

• E-mail is stored in a web-accessible hyper-mail archive.
  • www.monmouth.edu/~rclayton/mail-archives/s12-os/archive/index.html
  • or tinyurl.com/mucsoss12m
• E-mail to the mailing list is added to the archive.
  • E-mail to me is also added if of general interest.
  • Unless requested not to.

Home Page

• The class home page is
  • www.monmouth.edu/~rclayton/web-pages/s12-os/index.html
  • Or tinyurl.com/mucsoss12h (note the ‘h’).
• The lecture schedule is
  • www.monmouth.edu/~rclayton/web-pages/s12-os/schedule.html
  • Or tinyurl.com/mucsoss12s (note the ‘s’).

Screencasts

• Lectures will recorded and be made available at vimeo.com/rclayton .

  

Downloading

		Command-line or browser downloaders also work.

Microblogging

• Follow mucsos on Twitter or Identi.ca.

  twitter.com/mucsos			identi.ca/mucsos

• Both services carry the same messages.

Assistance

• See me if you need special assistance.
  • If you know what I’m talking about, you know what to do.
  • If you don’t know what I’m talking about, it doesn’t matter.

Attendance

• I have no attendance policy for lectures; you may attend them or not.
  • However, you are responsible for everything that goes on during lectures.
• I expect good attendance for other parts of the course, tests in particular.
  • Repeated violations I have to attend to will put me in an uncharitable mood.

Cheating

• I don’t care how you put knowledge in your head.
  • But I do care that knowledge comes out of your head.
• Cheating is not doing your own work.
  • Copying assignments, copying test answers is cheating.
  • Cut ‘n’ paste research on the Web is cheating.

Adjudication

• The mechanism for dealing with cheating is:
  1. Give everybody zeros.
  2. Judge mitigating evidence and adjust accordingly.
  3. Elevate for further adjudication.
• Step 2 is the tricky one.
  • It’s gotten progressively brutish and short over the years.

Working Together

• Paradoxically, I recommend working together.
  • On assignments, and studying, not on tests.
• To avoid problems, only make copies inside your head.
  • A.k.a. learning.

Grade Complaints

• I encourage students to question their grades.
• But
  1. I only argue about answers.
  2. You have a limited time to raise questions.
  3. Make sure you understand my answers.

Late Assignments

• Don’t hand in assignments late.
  • Late penalties are steep.
  • You’re not going to be able to climb out of the hole.
• Falling behind in assignments is generally a bad idea.
  • It’s double bad for linked assignments.

Missing Tests

• Let me know if you’re going to miss a test.
  • You can schedule a make-up at your convenience.
• Unexcused absences are handled more severely.
  • The tests are harder.
  • The scheduling is much harder.

---

This page last modified on 2012 January 18.