Operating Systems

CSCI 3327 Spring 2019

Instructor Information

Name : Terry Sergeant   Office Hours
E-Mail : tsergeant@hsutx.edu MW 8:30-10:00; 1:45-2:45  
Office : JB 322 Tue 8:30-9:30  
Phone : 670-1292 Thu 8:30-11:30  
Web Site : http://josephus.hsutx.edu Fri 9:00-10:00  

Summary

Description : Students will investigate concerpts pertinent to the design of operating systems, including processes, scheduling, synchronization, memory management, and file systems. Students will also learn how these concepts are applied in two or more operating systems.
Textbook : Silberschatz, Galvin, and Gagne, Operating System Concepts with Java, 8th edition, John Wiley and Sons, 2010.

Course Objectives

Students who satisfactorily complete this course will (hopefully) be able to:

Grading

Your grade in the course will be earned / calculated as follows:
paper/presentation   10%
assignments   24%
2 exams   44%
final exam   22%
A $\rightarrow$ 90 - 100
B $\rightarrow$ 80 - 89
C $\rightarrow$ 70 - 79
D $\rightarrow$ 60 - 69
F $\rightarrow$ 0 - 59

Paper and Presentation

You will write a short paper and give a presentation to the class on an assigned topic. The presentation dates are given on the course calendar. In the paper you will explore how Linux, or Windows, or Mac OS implements one of the following concepts:

Details of this assignment will be specified in another document.

Homework

Homework will be assigned and graded on a regular basis. Point values (and lead time) will vary in accordance with the difficulty of the assignment. Homework is intended to be an individual exercise. Some students, however, seem to benefit from working together with another student on difficult assignments. For this reason, the standard regarding independent homework is as follows:
When working a homework assignment you must not make any sort of electronic copy of work that is not your own. Also, you must type assignments yourself. Failure to abide by these rules is a violation of the academic integrity standards for this course.

Unless directed otherwise, all assignments will be submitted by e-mail to the following address: cscihomework@hsutx.edu.

Late Penalties

An assignment (homework/lecture/project) is considered late if it is not submitted at the beginning of the class period on the day it is due. Late assignments that are submitted within one week of the due date will receive a 30% point penalty. Assignments submitted after the 1 week deadline will receive a grade of zero.

Exams and Final Exam

The exams (two during the semester and the final exam) are equally weighted. None of them are explicitly comprehensive. Exams are to be completed as an entirely individual effort with no colloboration or aids of any kind unless explicitly allowed.

Academic Integrity

Violations of academic integrity have been described to some degree in other sections of this syllabus.

Cases of suspected academic dishonesty will be handled in accordance with university policies outlined in Undergraduate Catalog and in the Student Handbook. The current catalog prescribes that ``no student who has violated the Academic Integrity Policy will be allowed to graduate from Hardin-Simmons University with honors.'' Penalties will be assigned at the discretion of the instructor and typically range from failure on the assignment to failure of the course. A general rule-of-thumb is that a first offense (if not too major) will result in a zero on the assignment and a second offense will result in an F for the course. The current catalog states that an F earned in this way cannot be replaced by retaking the course.

Students with Disabilities

Any student with a professionally diagnosed learning disability and/or other professionally diagnosed disability that may affect course performance may choose to seek accommodation. Eligible students seeking accommodation should contact the Office of the Director of Undergraduate Advising and Disabilities of such as soon as possible in the academic term (preferably during the first two weeks of a long semester) for which they are seeking accommodations. The director will prepare letters to appropriate faculty members concerning specific, reasonable academic adjustments for the student. The student is responsible for delivering accommodation letters and conferring with faculty members. Please refer to the most recent version of the Undergraduate Catalog for the complete policy. (Rachel King, Director of Undergraduate Advising and Disabilities, Office: SM-209, Phone: 670-5842, Email: disabilityservices@hsutx.edu)

Computer Account Use

The instructor may occasionally use email to communicate with the class as a whole or with individuals. When contacting you for this course the instructor will use your HSU email account. You are expected to check your HSU email account at least once per day and you will be held responsible for any content distributed in this way.

Attendance

Regarding class attendance, the Undergraduate Catalog states:
Accordingly, absence from more than 25 percent of class meetings and/or laboratory sessions scheduled for a course (including absences because of athletic participation) is regarded as excessive, and a grade of F may be assigned as deemed appropriate by the professor.

Course Calendar and Class Structure

The exam dates and presentation dates are fairly firm, but the weekly topics may vary from this outline somewhat. The exams are on Friday of the specified week and the presentations are on Wednesday of the specified week.

Week Date Topic / Schedules
Week 1 14 Jan Intro / History
Week 2 21 Jan Processes and Threads
Week 3 28 Jan Threads
Week 4 04 Feb CPU Scheduling; Pres: Processes/Threads (Thu)
Week 5 11 Feb Synchronization; Exam #1 (Thu)
Week 6 18 Feb Synchronization
Week 7 25 Feb Deadlock; Pres: CPU Scheduling (Thu)
Week 8 04 Mar Memory Management
Week X 11 Mar Spring Break
Week 9 18 Mar Virtual Memory; Pres: Sync/Deadlock (Thu)
Week 10 25 Mar Exam #2 (Thu); Virtual Memory
Week 11 01 Apr File Systems
Week 12 08 Apr I/O Systems Pres: Memory Mgmt (Thu)
Week 13 15 Apr Interrupts
Week 14 22 Apr Security; Pres: File Systems (Thu)
Week 15 29 Apr Security
  07 May Final Exam: Tue at 1:00 p.m.