(Latest Revision: Tue Feb 6 15:42:52 PST 2001 )
courseDescription.html
courseDescription.html
COURSE INFORMATION:
OPERATING SYSTEMS II
CS 4750 SECTION 1; Tues-Thurs 1115-1242; P-101 (Professional Schools
Building)
PREREQUISITE:
Operating Systems I (CS 3750)
TERM:
Spring 1999
INSTRUCTOR:
John Sarraille, Professor of Computer Science
OFFICE:
P-286, Professional Schools Building, Cal State Stanislaus
OFFICE HOURS:
MWF 11:10-12:10, Tues-Thurs 13:30-14:30 or by appointment
PHONE NUMBERS:
Office: 667-3345; CS Dept: 667-3185
E-MAIL:
john@ishi.csustan.edu
HOMEPAGE:
http://www.cs.csustan.edu/~john/jsHomepage.html
BASIC SCHEDULE INFO:
We will try to use the last hour of class on Thursdays to work in the CS
department lab (P-288). We'll start each day's work by meeting in P-
101.
My expectation is that everyone will attend all the classes and keep
current with everything that is happening in class.
Generally, a college student has to work four hours per week for every
unit s/he carries. This include time spent in class and outside of
class. Thus CS 4750 can be expected to take about twelve hours of your
time each week.
REQUIRED TEXTS:
1. "Unix Internals: the new frontiers," by Uresh Vahalia,
published by Prentice Hall.
2. "Unix System Administration Handbook" (2nd ed.) by Evi Nemeth,
Garth Snyder, and Scott Seebass, published by Prentice Hall
OBJECTIVES:
To gain familiarity with the UNIX Kernel while learning about
modern trends and research in operating systems theory; to learn
about being the administrator of a Unix system or a network of
Unix systems; and to get practice working with UNIX system
software (e.g. porting software among Unix systems).
The material we will be studying is extensive and complex. We
should all expect to learn from each other -- I include myself in
that.
You will do lab projects, reading out of the system
administration book by Nemeth, and reading out of the internals
book by Vahalia. You will get homework questions and test
questions covering the readings.
COVERAGE:
There is a lot of material to cover. Between the two books, we
will be reading between 50 and 70 pages per week. Besides that,
there will be some coverage of problems encountered installing
operating systems and related software on Intel platforms.
TESTS & GRADING:
There will be three course components: written homework, project,
and course exams. There will be approximately 5 written homework
assignments, 1 course project, and 2 course exams.
Homework will consist of exercises covering what you are reading
in the texts.
Your project will be a term-long assignment to install and
configure system software on Linux/Solaris/NeXTSTEP/Unix
workstations. You will do project work in teams of two persons.
Each team will be expected to keep a detailed and complete
journal that describes what the team is doing, and each important
development in the project. This journal will be turned in (by
e-mail) each Friday for my review. Using the journals, the team
will write a report, stating who did what, what problems were
encountered, and what the participants feel they learned from
doing their project work. The report must contain input from
both team members, and the report must be presented orally by the
team at the end of the term. A hardcopy of the report must also
be turned in at the end of the term. The grade on the project
will be based on the quality of the journal, the report, and what
you appear to have accomplished and learned by doing the project.
I will have weekly conversations with the teams in order to
monitor the progress of the projects. During our weekly
conversations, we will work out the details of exactly what you
will be doing in your projects. Typically your course project
will not be "one big thing". It will be a series of varied
system administration tasks.
There will be two in-term examinations. The first exam will be
given just before Spring break, and the second exam will be given
near the end of the term. The second exam will not be
"comprehensive". There will be no final exam. Instead we will
do the oral presentations of the project reports during our
designated final exam time.
Under normal circumstances, homework, project, and tests will
each be given a weight of 1/3 in determining your grade. (Each
of the two tests will count 1/6).
The exception to that rule is that you are not allowed to pass
the course if you are too deficient in any one of the three
course components. You must have a passing average in each of:
the written homework, the project, and the course exams.
LATE ASSIGNMENTS:
Late assignments will not be accepted.
PROBLEMS:
If you have a problem that is going to interfere with your class
work, please discuss it with me at the earliest possible time,
well *before* it causes you to miss an assignment or an exam.
PARTICIPATION:
I want to be accessible and helpful to you during this course. I
want you to get as much as possible out of it. But remember
education is a two-way street. You have to do your part by
participating. Attend class. Listen. Take notes. Review your
notes before each class. Do assignments and reading on time.
Reply to questions. Ask questions. Make remarks. If you have
something half-way interesting to say, say it! You don't have to
stand on ceremony. Come to office hours or see me after class if
you want to discuss something one-on-one. And come to class
prepared to have fun!