CompSci 143B - Project in Operating Systems - Summer, 2008 (Dillencourt)

This is a project course. The associated lecture course, CompSci 143A, is also offered this summer. Although CompSci 143A listed as a prerequisite for this course, the course will be structured so that students who are willing to do some additional reading early in the course can take the two courses concurrently.

The course will run from June 23 to August 29.

• Instructor: Prof. Michael Dillencourt, dillenco@ics.uci.edu
  • Office hours: Click here. In addition, I am available after class for questions.
  • Office: DBH 4086
• Teaching Assistant: Mr. Matthew Badin mbadin@ics.uci.edu
  • Office hours, Office hour location: Click here
• Class meetings: Click here.
• Grading:
  • There will be 4-5 projects. The course grade will be based on the project grades. Each project grade will be based on two components:
    1. The grade on the submitted project
    2. An in-class quiz on the project. Quizzes will be held in-class, after the project is due. The date of each quiz will be announced.
  • There will not be a final examination in the course.
• Enrollment issues: registration, adds, drops, etc.
  • This course is taught under the auspices of the UCI Summer Session Program. To read their enrollment policy, start here. To see their calendar, and the deadlines for adds and drops, click here.
  • Adds: I am willing to sign add cards at any time, consistent with the rules of the Summer Session. If you are not enrolled in the class, I will not grade or return your work.
  • Drops: I will sign drop cards up to the deadline imposed by the Summer Session, which is well past the middle of the session. (For the exact date, click here.) If you do decide to drop the course, you should complete all the relevant paperwork as soon as possible. The deadlines imposed by the Summer Session are firm, and if you miss them there is nothing anyone can do about it.
• Policy on incompletes: Because the drop policy is so forgiving, I will generally not be giving incompletes. If you find yourself unable to complete the assignments on time, it is recommended that you drop the course.
• Email:
  • Email about the course material should be sent to compsci143b-questions@ics.uci.edu. This address is an alias for the instructor and all the instructional staff, so it will give you the fastest turnaround. Please include "CompSci 143B" in the subject line, and include your name, student number, and official UCI email address in the message.
  • Email that needs to go to a particular person (e.g., a request for appointment with the instructor or the TA) should go to that specific person.
• Return of graded work:
  • Graded work will be handed back in class. Unclaimed graded work will eventually be placed in the ICS Distribution Center. If this policy changes, it will be announced.
• Course announcements:
  • Course announcements will be sent via email to all students enrolled in the class.
  • The announcements will be set to your UCI email address. All students enrolled in this course have a UCI email address. If you have not set up your UCI email account, you can do so by going to the Student Resources web page for UCI Network and Academic Computing Services (NACS), and following the link "Getting Started with Email at UCI" at the left of the page.
  • If you are not receiving these announcements for some reason, you can view the archive by clicking here.
• Text book:
  • None required.
  • Most of the projects will be based on material from the following book.
    • L. F. Bic and A. C. Shaw, Operating Systems Principles, Prentice Hall, 2003. The book web site has much useful information, including lecture notes and a list of errata.
• Course notes:
  • Any slides presented in class will be made available, and a link will be provided here.
• Project Overview
  • There will be 4-5 projects that will cover various aspects of operating systems. The specific assignments will be made over the course of the quarter. The following thumbnail descriptions indicate the type of projects that will be assigned.
    • Process /thread synchronization: Program threads that enter a race condition. Implement two or more solutions to the critical section problem and compare the resources required by the solutions.
    • Process/resource management: Implement the operations required to create, destroy, and manipulate processes, request and release resources, emulate the actions of hardware interrups. Develop a presentation shell to test the various operations.
    • Memory management: Design a memory manager that supports allocation strategies such as first-fit, best-fit, next-fit, worst-fit, etc. Develop a calling shell to test that the allocation works correctly. Evaluate the strategies using probabilistically generated sequences of request and release commands.
    • Page replacement algorithms: Implement several different page replacement algorithms. Compare their relative performance using probabilistically generated reference strings.
    • File system: Develop a basic file system, using an emulated I/O system. Develop a presentation shell to test the various operations.
    • Disk driver: Develop a simple disk driver, using an emulated hard disk. Develop a presentation shell to test the various operations.
    • Translation Look-Aside Buffer: Implement a software emulation of a translation look-aside buffer. Simulate its performance using probabilistically generated reference strings to study how it reduces the number of memory references in a virtual memory system.
  • All projects are to be developed either in C, C++, or Java. The choice of language for each project is up to the student.
  • Project deliverables will include: source code, a Make file that compiles the code, documentation, a ReadMe file.
  • All projects are to be submitted using the EEE Drop Box Mechanism.
  • All projects can be done either as individual projects or as 2-person group projects. It will be assumed that both participants in a group project contributed equally, and both will receive the same grade.
  • There will be a penalty of about 10% per day for late submission of projects. The exact rules for each project will be announced when the project is assigned.
  • There will be a quiz on each project. Your score on each project will be lowered if you do badly on the quiz.
• Projects
  • Project 1 due Monday, July 7, 5PM. (Individual or group projects).
  • Project 2 due Monday, July 28, 5PM. (Individual or group projects).
  • Project 3 due Monday, August 18, 5PM. (Individual or group projects).
  • Project 4 due Tuesday, September 2, 5PM. (Individual or group projects).
• Click here for links to lab hours, available UNIX machines, and other possibly useful information.