CSE 120: Principles of Computer Operating Systems

Spring 2018

Instructor

Geoffrey M. Voelker (voelker@cs.ucsd.edu)
CSE 3108

Lectures

Tu/Th 8–9:20am
Warren 2005

TAs and Tutors

Ruohan Hu (r8hu@ucsd.edu)
Kyle Leung (kwleung@ucsd.edu)
Erin McGinnis (emmcginn@ucsd.edu)
Sean Powers (s1powers@ucsd.edu)
Ashrith Sheshan (asheshan@ucsd.edu)
Edward Wong (e4wong@ucsd.edu)

Discussion Sections

Wed 8–8:50am in Warren 2005

Office and Lab Hours

Voelker (All Topics): Mon 3–4pm, Wed 4–5pm (CSE 3108)

Labs

CSE basement

Textbook

Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea C. Arpaci-Dusseau Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces Version 0.91   (Available free online!)

Discussion Board

Piazza

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 Schedule

The following table outlines the schedule for the course. We will update it as the quarter progresses.

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 approximately four homework assignments with questions taken from the textbook and other materials. The homework assignments 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 middle of the quarter and a final exam at the end of the quarter. The exams will cover the material presented in lecture, the homeworks, and the projects. You can use both sides of one 8.5x11" page of notes to assist you during the exams.

Homework

The course will have four homeworks. I will post them as the quarter progresses. Due to extensive copying on homeworks in the past, I have changed how homeworks are graded. As long as you submit a technical answer related to the question, you will get full credit for the question. The goal of the homeworks is to give you practice learning the material. The homework questions both supplement and complement the material from lecture and in the project, and you will also find the homework questions to be useful for practicing for the exams. We will post solutions to all homeworks after they are submitted, and you can use them for studying as well. But, even with the solutions, the amount you learn from the homeworks will be directly correlated with your effort working on them.

• Homework 1 (Out 4/5, In 4/17)
• Homework 2 (Out 4/17, In 4/28)
• Homework 3 (Out 5/4, In 5/21)
• Homework 4 (Out 5/24, In 6/6)

Projects

The course has one tutorial project and three programming projects using the Nachos instructional operating system.

• Project page

Exams

• Sample Midterm [Solutions]
• Sample Final [Solutions]

Discussion Sections

Discussion sections answer questions about the lectures, homeworks, projects, and programming environment. They may also supplement the lectures with additional material.

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: 6%
• Midterm: 28%
• Final: 33%
• Projects: 33%

The academic honesty guidelines outlined by Charles Elkan apply to this course. I urge you to resist any temptation to cheat, no matter how desperate the situation may seem. If you are in circumstances that you feel compel you to cheat, come to me first before you do so.

Supplemental Reading

• The seminal paper on semaphores:

  E. W. Dijkstra, The Structure of the 'THE'-Multiprogramming System, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 11, No. 5, May 1968, pp. 341-346.

  (Additional historical background on semaphores in Wikipedia)

• The seminal paper on Unix:

  D. M. Ritchie and K. Thompson, The UNIX Time-Sharing System, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 17, No. 7, July 1974, pp. 365-375.

• The seminal paper on monitors:

  C. A. R. Hoare, Monitors: An Operating System Structuring Concept, Communications of the ACM, Vol. 17, No. 10, October, 1974, pp. 549-557.

• Practical guides to programming with threads on Unix:

  Blaise Barney, POSIX Threads Programming, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

  Andrew D. Birrell, An Introduction to Programming with Threads, DEC SRC Research Report 35, January 6, 1989.