CSE 120

Principles of Computer Operating Systems

Attention: The final review will be on Wednesday, 12/6, from 4-5pm in CSB 001

Instructor

Geoff Voelker (voelker@cs.ucsd.edu)
AP&M 5131
822-3323

Teaching Assistants

Anirban Bagchi (Homeworks, Discussion) (abagchi@cs.ucsd.edu)
Sanjeev Bansal (Projects) (sbansal@cs.ucsd.edu)

Lectures

Tu/Th 9:35am - 11:55am
CSB 001

Discussion Sections

Mo 3:35pm - 4:25pm
CSB 002

Office Hours

Voelker: Tue 11:00am - 12:00pm, Wed 5:00pm - 6:00pm (or by appointment) in AP&M 5131
Bagchi: Fri 11:00am - 1:00pm in AP&M 3337A
Bansal: Wed 9:00am - 10:00am, Fri 10:00am - 11:00am in AP&M 3349D

Textbook

Crowley, Operating Systems: A Design-Oriented Approach, Irwin, 1997.

Discussion Board

http://discus.ucsd.edu

Course Objectives

This course covers the principles of operating systems. It emphasizes the basic concepts of OS kernel organization and structure, processes and threads, concurrency and synchronization, memory management, file systems, and communication. It is also a project course, providing essential experience in programming with concurrency, implementing and unmasking abstractions, working within an existing complex system, and collaborating with other students in a group effort.

Course Organization

The course is organized as a series of lectures by the instructor, discussion sections by the TAs, reading, homework, and project assignments, and exams:

• Lectures: The lectures present the core of the material.
• Sections: The discussion sections are given by the TAs to answer questions about the lecture, textbook readings, homework assignments, and project assignments.
• Readings: The readings in the textbook provide preparation and a reference for the lectures. Note, however, that they are not a substitute for the lectures.
• Homeworks: There are five homework assignments with questions taken from the textbook. The homework assignments are intended to reinforce the readings and lectures.
• Projects: There are three programming projects, all using the Nachos instructional operating system.
• Exams: There are two exams, a midterm exam in the fifth week and a final exam. Both will be open book and open notes tests. The exams will cover the material presented in lecture, the homeworks, and the projects.

Homework

Homeworks are due at the start of class on the day specified. You are allowed one late homework during the quarter of up to a week late, no explanation necessary.

• Homework 1 (Out 9/28, In 10/5)
• Homework 2 (Out 10/12, In 10/19 10/24)
• Homework 3 (Out 11/7, In 11/14)
• Homework 3.5 (Out 11/14, In 11/21)
• Homework 4 (Out 11/21, In 11/30)

Projects

The course has three programming projects using the Nachos instructional operating system. You will work in groups of four on each of the projects.

• CSE 120 Nachos Project Guide

• Project 1: Threads
• Project 2: Multiprogramming
• Project 3: Virtual Memory

Exams

• Midterm (Histogram)
• Final (Histogram)

Grading

Your grade for the course will be based on your performance on the homeworks, midterm and final exams, and the three projects using the following weights:

• Homeworks: 20%
• Midterm: 25%
• Final: 25%
• Projects: 30%

Course Schedule

The schedule for the course is as follows. I will update it as the quarter progresses.