CS439 Schedule of Topics and Assignments

CS439: Principles of Computer Systems

Dr. Alison N. Norman and
Dr. J. Marcos Palacios

Schedule for Spring 2022

This schedule, and the links contained in it, are subject to change during the semester. Exam dates, however, are final.

Reading assignments are generally from one of the required textbooks:

the online book Operating Systems: Three Easy Pieces by Remzi H. Arpaci-Dusseau and Andrea C. Arpaci-Dusseau (indicated by OSTEP; this book is available for purchase at the site above if you prefer a print copy), and

the online book Operating Systems and Middleware: Supporting Controlled Interaction by Max Hailperin (Readings are from edition 1.3 and indicated by MH).

Readings from additional sources are linked from the schedule. All reading assignments are recommended and are most beneficial when completed before class on the schedule day.

Date		Topic	Suggested Readings

Wed	Jan 19	Introduction & Themes	Reading: OSTEP: Chapter 2, except 2.6

Wed-Fri, Mon-Tue	Jan 19-21, Jan 24-25	"Stop by" to meet Alison and Marcos Sign up to meet Alison here! Sign up to meet Marcos here!

Fri	Jan 21		Attend discussion section

Mon	Jan 24	History of Operating Systems

Tue	Jan 25		Problem Set 0 due 10:59p (Electronic Submission through Canvas)


Wed	Jan 26	Processes	Reading: OSTEP: The Process, Process API, and Limited Direct Execution up to 6.3 Project 0 available

Fri	Jan 28		Problem Set 1 due in section Shell Group Planning document due at 10:59p

Mon	Jan 31	More Processes and CPU Scheduling	Reading: OSTEP: CPU Scheduling and The Multi-Level Feedback Queue

Wed	Feb 2	Threads and Too Much Milk!	Reading: OSTEP: Concurrency and Threads API (up to 27.3)

Fri	Feb 4		Problem Set 2 due in section Shell Group Reflections document due at 10:59p

Mon	Feb 7	Locks and Semaphores	Reading: OSTEP: Locks (skip 28.8-28.11) and Semaphores (up to 31.5) Project 1 available

Wed	Feb 9	Deadlock and Monitors	Reading: OSTEP: Common Concurrency Problems, pages 1-11 (stop at "Deadlock Avoidance via Scheduling") OSTEP: Monitors

Thu	Feb 10		Project 0 Code due at 10:59p

Fri	Feb 11		Project 0 Design Doc rough draft due in section Project 0 Design Doc due at 10:59p Shell Group Evaluation document due at 10:59p

Mon	Feb 14	More Synchronization	Reading: MH: Atomic Transactions: Intro and Durability (5.1 and 5.4) Project 1 group registration due 10:59p

Wed	Feb 16	The Importance of Safety	Read the Therac-25 paper, following these tips. If you are off-campus, this link through the UT libraries Web proxy may be useful. Read this New York Times article and at least the first two pages of this one (make sure you see the pictures).

Fri	Feb 18		Problem Set 3 due in section Threads Group Planning and Reflections document due at 10:59p

Mon	Feb 21	Synch Review

Wed	Feb 23	Exam 1 7p-9p in WEL 2.224

Thu	Feb 24		Project 1 Code due at 10:59p

Fri	Feb 25	No Discussion Sections	Project 1 Design Doc due at 10:59p Threads Group Evaluation document due at 10:59p Project 2 available

Mon	Feb 28	Memory: Overview	Reading: OSTEP: Address Spaces and Mechanism: Address Translation Project 2 group registration due 10:59p

Wed	Mar 2	Virtual Memory: Mechanisms	Reading: OSTEP: Paging: An Introduction

Fri	Mar 4		Problem Set 4 due in section Userprog Group Planning and Reflections document due at 10:59p

Mon	Mar 7	Virtual Memory: Policies	Reading: OSTEP: Paging: Smaller Tables and Swapping: Policies Project 2 Stack Check Due

Wed	Mar 9	Virtual Memory: More Policies	Project 3 available

Fri	Mar 11		Problem Set 5 due in section Group Reflections document due at 10:59p

Mon-Fri	Mar 14-Mar18	Spring Break!

Mon	Mar 21	Heap Memory Management	Reading: OSTEP: Memory:API

Wed	Mar 23	Garbage Collection

Thu	Mar 24		Project 2 Code due at 10:59p

Fri	Mar 25		Problem Set 6 due in section Userprog Group Evaluation document due at 10:59p

Mon	Mar 28	Secondary Storage	Reading: OSTEP: I/O Devices, Hard Disk Drives, and SSDs Project 2 Code Reviews begin Project 3 group registration due 10:59p

Wed	Mar 30	File System Fundamentals and Design	Reading: OSTEP: Files and Directories, File System Implementation, and Locality and The Fast File System

Fri	Apr 1	Discussion Section Special Event	Project 3 Data Structures due at 10:59p VM Group Planning and Reflections document due at 10:59p

Mon	Apr 4	File System Consistency	Reading: OSTEP: Crash Consistency: FSCK and Journaling Basic RAID Notions

Wed	Apr 6	Exam 2 7p-9p in WEL 2.224

Fri	Apr 8	No Discussion Sections	VM Group Reflections document due at 10:59p

Mon	Apr 11	Networks and Their Abstractions	Reading: An Introduction to Computer Networks, Chapter 1, sections 1-1.3, 1.9-1.14, by Peter L. Dordal

Wed	Apr 13	Sockets and Parallel Programming

Thu	Apr 14		Project 3 Code due at 10:59p

Fri	Apr 15		Project 3 Design Doc rough draft due in section Project 3 Design Doc due at 10:59p VM Group Evaluation document due at 10:59p Project 4 available

Mon	Apr 18	Parallel and Distributed Computing	Reading: OSTEP: Multiprocessor Scheduling Distributed Systems for Fun and Profit, by Mikito Takada, Chapter 2 and Chapter 3 Project 4 group registration due 10:59p

Wed	Apr 20	Fancy File Systems	Reading: NFS The Google File System

Fri	Apr 22		Problem Set 7 due in section Filesys Group Planning and Reflections document due at 10:59p

Mon	Apr 25	Deadlock	Reading: Deadlock Notes from Dr. John T. Bell at University of Illinois, Chicago

Wed	Apr 27	The Security Mindset	Reading: MH: 11.1-11.3, 11.5, and 11.8

Fri	Apr 29	No discussion sections Filesys Reflections document due at 10:59p

Mon	May 2	Putting It All Together

Wed	May 4	Something Different

Thu	May 5		Project 4 Code due at 10:59p No slip days!

Fri	May 6	No discussion sections	Project 4 Design Doc due at 10:59p No slip days! Filesys Group Evaluation document due at 10:59p

		Final Exam at the time and location scheduled by the registrar NOT at the time given on the registrar's tentative schedule, but at a uniform time with my other sections of CS439. The registrar typically publishes the final exam schedule in early April. The exam may be as late as Tuesday, May 17th.