CS 550 Operating Systems                                                        Fall 2014 Syllabus

Updated Wednesday, Sept. 3, 2014

Classroom: VLK128

Time: 12:00 - 12:50 MWF

Textbook: Operating System Concepts (2012)
Authors: Abraham Silberschatz, Peter B. Galvin, and Greg Gagne
ISBN: 1118063333 (ISBN-10), 978-1118063330 (ISBN-13)

Reference Textbook: MPI: A Message Passing Interface Standard Version 3.0 (2012)
Authors: MPI Forum
Link: http://www.mpi-forum.org/docs/mpi-3.0/mpi30-report.pdf

Instructor: David Monismith
                    2210 Colden Hall
                    monismi_at_nwmissouri_dot_edu

Office Hours: M 2:00pm - 4:00pm, T 10:00am - 11:00am, W 2:00pm - 4:00pm, R 2:00pm - 3:00pm, F 10:00am - 11:00am.  Other times by appointment.  If my door is open you are welcome to knock and come in for help with your project, but please ask if I am busy, first.

Graduate Assistant: Syed Mazhar Hussani
                    Help Session Location: CH3800 - TR 6:00pm - 7:30pm
                    s518625_at_mail_nwmissouri_dot_edu

Course Website: https://catpages.nwmissouri.edu/m/monismi/cs550/

Prerequisite: CSIS 345, with a grade of "C" or better.

Course Description: Course covers concepts of operating systems, including process and storage management, protection, security, and distributed systems (Undergraduate Academic Catalog, 2012-2014, p. 187).

Course Outline:

UNIX/Linux Introduction and C Programming
Review of Computer Organization
Overview and History of Operating Systems
Processes using C and MPI and Threads using Pthreads
Interprocess Communication
Synchronization
CPU Scheduling
Deadlock
I/O, File, and Memory Mangement
Distributed Systems will be emphasized within each of the topics above

Assignments:

*The instructor reserves the right to give a quiz at the beginning of class in lieu of collecting homework. Make up quizzes will not be given.
**Graduate students will be required to complete an additional project (50 points).

Attendance Policy: Class attendance is important and roll will be taken. Students are expected to attend class every day.

Class Work Policy: Homework* and labs must be submitted on the due date at the beginning of class and will not be accepted late. Projects must be submitted electronically by 11:59:59pm on the due date. Projects will be accepted up to 48 hours late at a penalty of 20%. Failure to make use of an XSEDE resource as denoted in an assignment, homework, or lab will result in a 25% penalty. The instructor and teaching assistant are able to track student use of XSEDE resources through the allocation tool on the xsede.org website. Projects that do not compile will be subject to a 50% penalty. You are expected to complete assignments in advance for known school events (e.g. athletic or club events). The instructor reserves the right to modify the late policy for students with extenuating circumstances. The instructor also reserves the right to waive the resource penalty above in the event of system failure.

Exams: As previously noted, there will be two examinations and one final. Unless announced otherwise in class, these examinations will take place on the following dates:

Exam 1: Friday, October 3, 2014
Exam 2: Wednesday, November 19, 2014
Final: Wednesday, December 10, 2014, 11:50am-1:50pm

Students absent during the day of a regular exam will be given the choice to count the final exam twice or to take a comprehensive make-up exam, time TBD by instructor. The final exam score will replace one regular exam score if a student has a higher score on the final than on one of the two regular exams. The instructor reserves the right to give a regular make-up exam to students having extenuating circumstances.

Grading Policy:  Grades will be assigned based upon accumulated points as follows:

100% - 90%     -->  A
89.99% - 80%  -->  B
79.99% - 70%  -->  C
69.99% - 60%  -->  D
59.99% - 0%    -->  F

The grade scale will not be raised; however, the instructor reserves the right to lower the grade scale without prior notice.

If you have a problem with a grade, please discuss it with the instructor.

Disabilities: Students in this course who need accommodations/modifications should present a copy of their official Northwest accommodation letter from the LAP/S Committee to the instructor as early in the term as possible. Additional information can be found at http://www.nwmissouri.edu/swd.

Academic Integrity: All assignments are to be completed individually unless otherwise designated. You may discuss the concepts of a current assignment with another person. Sharing code for a current assignment, handing in a program written by someone else, and all other obviously dishonest practices are prohibited.

Students are encouraged to come to office hours for help.

Students are expected to read and understand the CSIS Academic Integrity Policy available at http://www.nwmissouri.edu/mathcsis/pdf/AcademicIntegrityCSI.doc.

The policy stated in the Northwest Missouri State University Undergraduate (or Graduate) Academic Catalog will be followed. The document entitled Academic Integrity in CSIS Classes, posted at the link above, clearly explains those types of behavior that would be considered academic dishonesty. You are responsible for reading this document and also the policy as stated in the Undergraduate (or Graduate) Catalog and abiding by the guidelines described therein.

Disclaimer: The instructor reserves the right to reasonably modify this document as necessary, without notice.