A comprehensive overview of the design and implementation of computer operating systems from the early days of computing to modern day. The topics include process scheduling, threading and interprocess communication, memory management, file systems, access control, and security.

Moodle Course Page
Semester Spring 2022
Date Time, Location
  • lecture: M-W-- 2:30 pm- 3:45 pm, TBA
Instructor Dr. Naser Al Madi
Office: Davis 215
Email: nsalmadi@colby.edu
Weekly Course Schedule

The following structure will rarely change.

Day and time Activity
Monday Homework assigned
Wednesday, 11:59 pm Previous project due
Wednesday Weekly or biweekly project assigned in class
Thursday, noon Homework due
Friday Weekly or biweekly quiz assigned
Saturday, 11:59 pm Quiz due
Course Goals The learning goals for the lecture and projects are the same -- both are meant to work together to accomplish the goals for the course as a whole. They are:
  1. Understand and compare the different design philosophies of operating systems.
  2. Demonstrate the ability to create multithreaded software utilizing basic interprocess communication and synchronization techniques.
  3. Understand task scheduling techniques for single and multi processor systems.
  4. Demonstrate an understanding of process life-cycle.
  5. Evaluate the role of main memory management and CPU scheduling on system performance.
Projects

The work in lecture will lead into the week's project.

Programming projects involve completing significant programs as well as a writeup describing the work completed in the project.

Grading

There will be regular opportunities for you to practice what you have learned and to demonstrate your accomplishments.

The course grade will be determined as follows:

Projects 45%

Hands-on opportunities to implement and explore concepts from lecture.

Short homework assignments 5% Graded in a binary fashion:
1 if you made a serious attempt
0 otherwise.
Quizzes 25% Short weekly or biweekly quizzes.
Participation 5% I expect you to be an active contributor in the classroom. This requires you to attend both lectures and lab. It is not a problem if you know that you will not be able to attend a lecture or lab, but please email me in advance to let me know.
Final Exam 20% A 3-hour opportunity at the end of the semester to demonstrate your ability to answer questions about course material.
Homeworks
  • I will distribute short homework assignments on Moodle.
  • The homeworks themselves may not be worth much of your overall grade, but they prepare you for the quiz on Friday! Take them seriously and you should be well-prepared for the quiz.
  • Late submissions will not be accepted.
  • Homework will be graded in a binary fashion: if you hand in a reasonable attempt, you get a 1, otherwise a 0.
Weekly quizzes
  • There is a 15 minute quiz most Fridays online on Moodle. You will have a ~1 day window to complete the quiz at a time that works best with your schedule (until Saturday night at 11:59pm).
  • The quizzes let you show me what you have learned. These should be quick and straightforward if you participate in lecture and review lecture notes.
  • I understand that everyone has a bad day; the quiz with the lowest grade will be dropped.
  • A quiz may be made up when a prior request is made or there is a documented health issue.
  • Please contact me immediately in the event of illness and other unforeseen circumstances, we will work out accommodations.
Class Participation
  • You are expected to attend every class and lab. This is important for the overall learning experience and cohesion of the course.
  • If you must miss a class for any reason, please email me in advance. I am happy to work with you.
  • For this course to be truly successful, your presence and participation is important. When you have a question, ask it. It is highly probable that one of your classmates has the same question.
Final Exam

There will be a final exam at TBD. There are no make-ups.

Textbook

There is no required textbook for this course. All lecture notes and code from class will be posted on Moodle.

There are also lots of on-line resources available.

Links to free online textbooks:
Collaboration, Academic honesty

Computer science, both academically and professionally, is a collaborative discipline. In any collaboration, however, all parties are expected to make their own contributions and to generously credit the contributions of others. In our class, therefore, collaboration on assignments is encouraged, but you as an individual are responsible for understanding all the material in the assignment and doing your own work. Always strive to do your best, give generous credit to others, start early, and seek help early from both your professors and classmates.

The following rules are intended to help you get the most out of your education and to clarify the line between honest and dishonest work. We reserve the right to ask you to verbally explain the reasoning behind any answer or code that you turn in and to modify your project grade based on your answers. It is vitally important that you turn in work that is your own. We do use automated plagiarism detection software, so please be sure to abide by these, rather minimal, rules. Reports of academic dishonesty are handled by an academic review board and a finding of academic dishonesty may result in significant sanctions. For more details on Colby's Academic Integrity policies and procedures, see colby.edu/academicintegrity.

  • If you have had a substantive discussion of any homework or programming solution with a classmate, then be sure to cite them in your write-up. If you are unsure of what constitutes "substantive", then ask me or err on the side of caution. As one rule of thumb, you may discuss your approach to solving a problem, but you must not share or look at another classmate's code or written answers to project questions.
  • You must not copy answers or code from another student either by hand or electronically. Another way to think about it is that you should communicate with one another in natural human sentences, not in lines of code from a programming language.
  • Assistive code autocomplete systems that generate more than a single token of code are not permitted. You are expected to write all your code on your own and be able to explain it and rewrite it without assistance.
The Colby Affirmation

Colby College is a community dedicated to learning and committed to the growth and well-being of all its members.

As a community devoted to intellectual growth, we value academic integrity. We agree to take ownership of our academic work, to submit only work that is our own, to fully acknowledge the research and ideas of others in our work, and to abide by the instructions and regulations governing academic work established by the faculty.

As a community built on respect for ourselves, each other, and our physical environment, we recognize the diversity of people who have gathered here and that genuine inclusivity requires active, honest, and compassionate engagement with one another. We agree to respect each other, to honor community expectations, and to comply with College policies.

As a member of this community, I pledge to hold myself and others accountable to these values. More ...

Title IX Statement

Colby College prohibits and will not tolerate sexual misconduct or gender-based discrimination of any kind. Colby is legally obligated to investigate sexual misconduct (including, but not limited to sexual assault and sexual harassment).

If you wish to speak confidentially about an incident of sexual misconduct, please contact Colby Counseling Services (207-859-4490) or the Director of the Gender and Sexual Diversity Program, Emily Schusterbauer (207-859-4093).

Students should be aware that faculty members are considered responsible employees; as such, if you disclose an incident of sexual misconduct to a faculty member, they have an obligation to report it to Colby's Title IX Coordinator. "Disclosure" may include communication in-person, via email/phone/text, or through class assignments.

To learn more about sexual misconduct or report an incident, visit http://www.colby.edu/sexualviolence/.

© 2022 Naser Al Madi. Page last modified: .