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California State University Stanislaus

CS 3750-005: Operating Systems I

Spring 2026

11:00-11:50 am, M W F, Bizzini 115, Dr. Megan Thomas

[Syllabus ]        [Announcements]        [Calendar/Lecture Notes]        [Homeworks]        [Fun News]

Welcome to CS3750-005, an introduction to operating systems. Topics include:

Introduction to computer operating system design and implementation issues. Historical development of operating systems; management of processes, concurrent processes, memory, storage, and I/O systems; protection and security; ethical issues relating to security and privacy; and case studies of operating systems. 3 units.

Prerequisites: CS 3100 and CS 3740.

Announcements and Upcoming Events

27 February 2026	From this morning's pre-class conversation: "Lightning, earthquakes and physics - why basketball shoes squeak".The (very brief) Star Wars music performance starts around 6 min, 30 seconds in.
24 February 2026	The original instructions regarding starting 'sleep' processes work on Unix/Mac Terminals, *except* the Debian Linux Terminals on the machines in the CS lab. Debian handles backgrounding processes differently. The Lab 1 instructions have been updated: "If you are on a Mac or non-Debian Linux machine, type: sleep 500 &; sleep 600 &; If you are on a Debian Linux machine (like those in the CS Lab, including dragon.csustan.edu), type: sleep 500 & sleep 600 &" Thanks to Tyler Straub for tracking down the Debian differences and figuring out what commands would work.
20 February 2026	More job market news: "Employers Project Salary Increases for Most New Graduates", insidehighered.com, 19 Feb 2026
18 February 2026	"These are the fastest-growing skills companies are hiring for, according to new report", cnbc.com, February 9, 2026. Top tech jobs 2026: 5 of the fastest-growing tech, AI careers", mashable.com, February 7, 2026.
28 Jan 2026	Welcome to CS 3750!

Homeworks

	Points
Lab 1	10
Problem Set 1	10

Resources

On-line Resources

• Unix Commands
• 100 Useful Unix Commands
• 50 Most Frequently Used UNIX / Linux Commands (With Examples)
• Operating Systems
• Linux OS source code
• Android OS source code
• Ubuntu OS source code
• GitHub Open Source Operating Systems collection
• TinyOS OS source code, created by the TinyOS project
• Operating Systems History
• Microsoft DOS V1.1 and V2.0 source code
• Operating Systems Experts
• SIGOPS: ACM Special Interest Group on Operating Systems
• Usenix, particularly OSDI: the USENIX Symposium on Operating Systems Design and Implementation
• "Reflections on trusting trust" by Ken Thompson. A two page read, and a humdinger -- I recommend it. (A reprinting of his Turing Award Lecture.) Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie won their Turing Award for contributions to operating systems -- Unix, most particularly.

Fun News

• "11 Oddball Technology Records You Probably Didn't Know", IEEE Spectrum, 02 Oct 2025. (You probably need to be on campus to view this article; it may be paywalled.)
• "To counter AI cheating, companies bring back in-person job interviews", ComputerWorld.com, 26 Aug 2025
• "The 7 hottest jobs in IT", cio.com, 3 June 2025
• "Ten Year IT Job Outlook: Positive News for Cybersecurity, Software Development, and Management Roles", Peter Tsai, spiceworks.com, 13 Jan 2025
• Podcast: "Where the Internet Lives". A Google-centric view into the insides of data centers, and interviews with assorted people who work at them. May give you insights into possible future careers.
• Podcast: "Episode 434: Steven Skiena on Preparing for the Data Structures and Algorithm Job Interview" of the Software Engineering Radio podcast. (10 Nov 2020)