George Mason University

DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE

CS 471 Operating Systems – Spring 2016

Instructor: Dr. Daniel Barbará

Description: This course covers the principles of operating systems theory and practice. Fundamental concepts such as processes, synchronization, scheduling and memory management will be presented.

Prerequisites: CS 310 and CS 367, or equivalent. A solid background in These pre-requisites imply a solid background, both in programming and in computer architecture. In order to be able to work on the programming projects, the students must be comfortable with the Java programming language.

Meeting Times and Locations:

• Section 002:  MW; 3-4:15PM  Art and Design Building L008

Readings:
Required Textbook: "Operating System Principles & Practice", by Thomas Anderson and Michael Dahlin ISBN 978-0-9856735-2-9 Recursive Books

Office Hours: : By appointment(Office: Eng. Buldg., Room 4420)

Teaching Assistant (TA): TBA

TA Office Hours:TBA

Course Web Page: http://cs.gmu.edu/~dbarbara/CS471/index.html

Course Outcomes: At the end of this course, you will

• Demonstrate knowledge about the role and purpose of the operating systems
• Be able to explain the features of operating systems found in different types of computer systems (e.g., mainframe systems, personal computers, multiprocessor systems, handheld systems)
• Demonstrate basic knowledge about the evolution of operating system concepts from early batch systems to today's sophisticated multiuser/multiprocessor systems
• Demonstrate knowledge about different approaches to operating system design and the involved trade-offs
• Be able to explain the main performance evaluation criteria for computer systems and how the operating system design can have an impact on these
• Show an understanding of the need for the concurrent operation of multiple tasks (processes/threads) and an ability to solve basic process synchronization problems that arise from concurrent operation settings
• Demonstrate the knowledge about process scheduling, basic memory management and file system management techniques and their impact on the overall performance
• Demonstrate the basic knowledge about distributed systems and how the ever increasing networking features have affected (and are affecting) operating system design
• Be able to implement a suite of basic algorithms proposed for the main OS services such as memory management and process scheduling

Grading:

• Midterm 25%
• Final 35%
• Programming Projects 40%

No early exams will be given and make-up exams are strongly discouraged.

Homeworks and assignments will be collected on the date indicated in class. Late submissions will be penalized at 15% each day, and will not be allowed after 3 days of the due date.
GMU Honor Code will be enforced. The students are supposed to work individually on the assignments/projects, unless told otherwise. We reserve the right to use MOSS to detect plagiarism. Violations of GMU Honor Code or a total score of 49 (or less) will result in an F.

No smartphones, or recorders allowed in class. Lectures cannot be recorded without special permission from the instructor

Computer Accounts: All students should have accounts on the central Mason Unix system mason.gmu.edu (also known as osf1.gmu.edu) and  on IT&E Unix cluster zeus.ite.gmu.edu (Instructions and related links are here). Students can  work in  IT&E computer labs  for programming projects during the specified hours.

Students with Disabilities: If you have a documented learning disability or other condition that may affect academic performance you should: 1) make sure this documentation is on file with the Office of Disability Services (SUB I, Rm. 222; 993-2474; www.gmu.edu/student/drc) to determine the accommodations you need; and 2) talk with me to discuss your accommodation needs.