Information Sheet for CS 3733 Operating Systems

Fall 1999

Warning: This is not for the current semester.

Instructor: Dr. Steven Robbins
Office: 3.02.01A SB
Phone: 458-5544
Address: srobbins@cs.utsa.edu
Course Homepage: /classes/cs3733f1999/
Office Hours: TTH 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m., 12:15 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. and by appointment Class Times: TTh 2:00 - 3:15 pm in room 3.02.28 BB

Texts:

  • Operating Systems Concepts, 5th Ed by Silberschatz and Galvin
  • Practical UNIX Programming (PUP) by Robbins and Robbins

    Prerequisites: CS 2734, CS 2413, CS 3233

    Note that the course is oversubscribed and prerequisites will be enforced.

    Course Objectives:

  • To understand fundamental operating systems concepts.
  • To become more familiar with UNIX.

    Course Content:
    We will be using our SUN workstation laboratory in room 3.02.04SB. The sound and graphics capability of these machines may be used for some of these projects and it will be necessary to do these in the lab.

    The emphasis of the course is on process management, but we will cover Parts 1 through 4 of Silberschatz and Galvin along with the Unix and NT case studies. Most of our specific examples will come from UNIX, and we will be covering most of chapters 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, and 12 of PUP as well as some of the project chapters.

    Grading:

  • 25% Midterm (Tentative date: October 21)
  • 40% Assignments (programs and problem sets)
  • 35% Final Exam (Thursday, December 16, 10:30 - 1:15 pm)

    Newsgroups:
    Student should subscribe to the newsgroups utsa.cs.3733 and utsa.cs.3733.d. These should be checked for new postings each time you log in, or at least every 3 days.

    Notification of final grades:
    If you wish to receive your final grades by email, send me an email message some time after the last class and before the final. The message should have the subject line
    CS 3733 Grade Request
    and the message should have a valid return address. After I have graded the final exam and determined the letter grades for the course I will reply to your email message.

    Course Policy:
    Friday, October 29, is the last day to drop this course. No make-up exams will be given except for university sanctioned excused absences. If you must miss an exam (for a good reason), it is your responsibility to contact me before the exam. Leave a message at the above number or send me email.

    Unless otherwise stated, all assignments are due at the beginning of class on the due date. There will be a 10 percent penalty for assignments turned in after that time. Do not miss class to finish an assignment. Turn in what you have for partial credit. Assignments which are more than 12 hours late will not be accepted unless prior arrangements have been made.

    You must keep copies of the source code for all assignments for this course at least until you receive the your final grade for the course. At any time during the semester you may be asked to demonstrate any one of your programs.

    You are to do the assignments without collaboration. You can ask me questions about any aspect of an assignment. General discussion with others on the system or on an approach to a problem is constructive and is okay. However, since your grade is based on your assignments, they must be your own work. Students who hand in programs or written assignments which are identical or nearly identical are cheating. This type of scholastic dishonesty usually results in immediate failure in the course and can lead to additional disciplinary action.