Spring 2023
- Instructor
- Amy Ousterhout (aousterhout@ucsd.edu)
Office Hour: Fri 2–3pm (CSE 3130) - Lectures
- Tu/Th 3:30–4:50pm in Franklin Antonio Hall 1450
- TAs and Tutors
-
Charlotte Tang Yunxiang Chi Kaiyuan Wang Yuke Liu Fengyuan Wu Xiyan Shao Steven Wu - Discussion Section
- Fri 4–4:50pm in Center Hall 214
- TA/Tutor Lab Hours
- Calendar (CSE Basem*nt)
- Discussion Board
- Piazza
- Announcements and Grading
- Canvas
- Textbook
Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea C. Arpaci-Dusseau
Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces
Version 1.00 (Available free online!)
Course Objectives
This course covers the principles of operating systems. Itemphasizes the basic concepts of OS kernel organization and structure,processes and threads, concurrency and synchronization, memorymanagement, file systems, and communication. It is also a projectcourse, providing essential experience in programming withconcurrency, implementing and unmasking abstractions, working withinan 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.
The optional readings include primary sources and in-depth supplements for concepts in the class. Supplemental reading is for your own interest — the readings are not required, nor will you be tested on the material. Note that some of the links to the documents point to the ACM Digital Library. UCSD has a subscription to the ACM Digital Library, so you can access these links from a web browser on campus.
Thanks to Geoff Voelker, Yiying Zhang, John Ousterhout, and the faculty who teachCOS 318 at Princeton whose slides and notes heavily inspired the slides above.
Course Organization
The course is organized as a series of lectures by the instructor,discussion sections by the TAs, reading, homework, and projectassignments, and exams:
- Lectures: The lectures present the core of the material.
- Sections: The discussion sections aregiven by the TAs to answer questions about the lecture, textbookreadings, homework assignments, and project assignments.
- Readings: The readings in the textbook provide preparationand a reference for the lectures. Note, however, that they arenot a substitute for the lectures.
- Homeworks: There are four homework assignments withquestions taken from the textbook and other materials. The homework assignments reinforce the readings and lectures.
- Projects: There are three programming projects, all usingthe Nachos instructional operating system.
- Exams: There are two exams, a midterm exam in the middle ofthe quarter and a final exam at the end of the quarter. The examswill cover the material presented in lecture, the homeworks, and theprojects.
Homeworks
The course will have four homeworks, and I will post them as the quarter progresses. You will submit all your homework electronically via Canvas. We will reduce homework grades by 20% for each day that they are late.
Due to extensive copying on homeworks in the past, we 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.
I encourage you to collaborate on the homeworks: you can learn alot from your fellow students. Collaboration consists of discussingproblems with other students and independently writing your ownanswers to the problems based upon those discussions. As a rule ofthumb, you should be able to discuss a homework problem in the hallwith others, go home, and then write up your answer to the problem onyour own.
Projects
The course has one tutorial project and three programming projectsusing the Nachos instructional operating system.- Project page
Exams
The course has two exams: a midterm and a final. The midterm willcover the first half of the class, and the final will focus on thesecond half of the class.- Sample Midterm from a previous year [Solutions]
- Sample Final from a previous year [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 thehomeworks, midterm exam, final exam, and projects, as follows:
- Homeworks: 6%
- Midterm: 22%
- Final: 28%
- Projects: 44%
The academichonesty guidelines outlined by Charles Elkan apply to this course.I urge you to resist any temptation to cheat, no matter how desperatethe situation may seem. If you are in circ*mstances that you feelcompel you to cheat, come to me first before you do so.
aousterhout@ucsd.edu
