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https://github.com/pkivolowitz/csc4730-fall-2023

Fall 2023 Operating Systems Course
https://github.com/pkivolowitz/csc4730-fall-2023

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Fall 2023 Operating Systems Course

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README 

        
# CSC4730-Fall-2023



This document serves as both the course's syllabus and its main web

page.



## Course Summary



In this course you will not only open the curtain to see the wizard, you

will strip the wizard bare.



The biggest parts of this course include:



* We will cover nearly all of the great free textbook: OSTEP - Operating

Systems in Three Easy Pieces. This book is written at a popular level

and is very accessible.



* We will leverage the Unix programming environment in a deep and

meaningful way. These are marketable skills.



* We will do up to 8 projects both inside an OS itself and in userland.



## Learning Outcomes



There are too many learning outcomes in this course to name them all.



These four learning outcomes are highlighted:



1. At the end of this course, students will be able to design and

implement complex multi-process and threaded applications.



2. At the end of this course, students will be able to design and

implement various synchronization schemes using mutexes, condition

variables and semaphores.



3. At the end of this course, students will have mastered user level

memory allocation schemes including free space management.



4. At the end of this course, students have designed and synthesized

complex data structures and algorithms demonstrating mastery of the

structure of at least one kind of file system.



Implicit in this course is learning the lessons of care, testing,

debugging and commenting.



## Meetings



| Days | Times | Room |

| ---- | ----- | ---- |

| TR | 2:20 PM to 4:00 PM | CC 114 |



### In the event of virtual classes



Should we meet via Zoom. **All cameras must be on to the maximum degree

possible.** If you are on a desktop, get a Webcam, they are cheap

enough. Not having a Webcam is not an allowable excuse.



The link given below will be used for classes, should that be needed.



## Office hours



All office hours are held via [ZOOM](

).

This link will remain valid all term.



| Day | Times |

| --- | ----- |

| M | 11 AM to 12 PM |

| T | 11 AM to 12 PM |

| R | 7 PM to 9 PM |

| F | 12 PM to 1 PM |



Office hours may be recorded if the content is deemed by me to be of

general use to the class.



### Meetings / Questions outside of office hours



Due to abuse of the instructor's time during Spring 2023, help shall be

largely limited to the above hours. Make sure you ask your questions

during class or during posted office hours.



### Meetings / Questions prior to project due dates



With some exceptions, to be decided by me, help on projects will not be

available within 24 hours of a project's due date. This prohibition is

imposed to encourage good working habits including but not limited to

starting work early / working steadily. This is not intended punitively.



## Texts



Primary: [OSTEP]() This book is

free.



Ancillary:



1. Required: Advanced Programming in the UNIX environment, third

   edition. I will refer to this as Stevens and Rago. If you have any

   questions about the Unix / Linux environment and APIs, consult this

   book before approaching me.



2. [xv6

   risc-v]()

   This book is free.



## Readings



There are two types of readings in this class.



1. Assigned readings will come from OSTEP.



2. Unassigned readings will come from the two ancillary texts. Being

unassigned, you will **not** be told when to do them. Instead, review

the table of contents in each of the two ancillary sources to get a

general idea of that they contain. Then, later in the course, when you

have a question, review the ancillary texts for details.



You expected to have consulted the texts before approaching me with

questions. If I should answer something to the effect that the answer is

in the book, you are expected to explain to me what you read and

articulate what you found unclear. This step is take to encourage good

working habits on your part and is not punitive.



### Topics Covered



The following are the topics which we can expect to be covered:



| OSTEP | Topic | OSTEP | Topic |

| ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- |

|  4 | Processes | 21 | Swapping Mechanisms |

|  5 | Process API | 22 | Swapping Policies |

|  6 | Limited Direct Execution | 23 | Complete VM System |

|  7 | CPU Scheduling | 26 | Concurrency and Threads |

|  8 | Multi-level Feedback | 27 | Thread API |

|  9 | Lottery Scheduling | 28 | Locks |

| 10 | Multi-CPU Scheduling | 29 | Locked Data Structures |

| 13 | Address Spaces | 30 | Condition Variables |

| 14 | Memory API | 31 | Semaphores |

| 15 | Address Translation | 32 | Concurrency Bugs |

| 16 | Segmentation | 33 | Event-based Concurrency |

| 17 | Free Space Management | 36 | I/O Devices |

| 18 | Introduction to Paging | 37 | Hard Disk Drives |

| 19 | Translation Lookaside Buffers | 38 | RAID |

| 20 | Advanced Page Table | 39 | Files and Directories |

| | | 40 | File System Implementation |



There are 31 chapters listed above. While we may not get to all, you can

be certain there will be weeks in which you will be responsible for

reading more than one chapter. This is not a major burden as the

chapters are short and the text is written at a popular level.



### Environment



All projects require use of WSL on Windows or the terminal on the Mac.

If you're passionate about using Linux directly, this is also an option

but no help will be provided.



The easiest way to install WSL (Ubuntu) on Windows 11 is to run a

command prompt as Administrator and then:



`wsl --install`



If this doesn't work, use the Microsoft Store to install Ubuntu.



It is possible you'll have to turn on the Windows Subsystem for Linux in

the Add Remove Windows Features settings.



I recommend you select a trivial user name and password. For example,

for my `WSL` I use user name `a` and password `a`.



You'll then need to install the C and C++ environment.



```text

sudo -i

apt update

apt upgrade

apt install build-essential gdb

```



By now you will likely have already installed the plugins in VS Code

needed to work inside WSL. If not, ask a friend.



On the Mac, ensure you have `gcc` and `g++` available to you on the

command line.



### Installing xv6



On WSL:



```text

sudo -i

apt update

apt install crossbuild-essential-riscv64

apt install qemu-system

exit

# decide where you want to load the original xv6

# and change directory to there.

git clone https://github.com/mit-pdos/xv6-riscv.git

```



Make a copy of the xv6 directory for each of the projects using it.



On Mac:



Ensure you have the latest `brew`.



If you don't have `brew`, run this:



`/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL )"`



You'll also need the riscv toolchain plus qemu.



To access the riscv tools you need to add the right tap.



`brew tap riscv/riscv`



Then (this does BOTH qemu and the riscv tools):



`brew install qemu riscv-gnu-toolchain`



And as per Windows, get the xv6 repo. It is likely there is a small

change to be made to the `makefile` to specify the appropriate tool

chain.



If this is your first time using brew, you will have to make sure it

is in your path. Add this to the end of your `.zshrc` file (in your

home directory). Or maybe it's in your `.zprofile`. Or maybe it's in

your `.zshenv`. Why so many possibilities? Because Apple.



`export PATH=$PATH:/opt/homebrew/bin`



### `man` Pages



Since the early days, Unix has had the `man` command. For example:



`man man`



or



`man 2 chdir`



Consult the man pages before approaching me with questions. Prior to my

answering a question whose answer is found in the man page, I will

require you to state your understanding of the man page and articulate

where your understanding is insufficient. This step is taken to

encourage good working habits and is not punitive.



## Attendance



Attendance will be taken at nearly every class. The only exceptions will

be when I am so excited to get down to business, that I forget to take

it.



You get 6 free absences. After that each absence will remove 1 percent

from your aggregate score at the end of the term. All absences are

treated equally. That is, there are no "excused" absences.



The number of free absences equates to three weeks of missed class time

so it is unlikely you'll exceed this and incur a penalty.



Should a long-term absence due to uncontrollable circumstances become

necessary, please speak to me as soon as possible.



## Arriving Late



Once attendance has been taken, anyone arriving after than will be

counted as absent. Generally, attendance will end between five and ten

minutes after the official start of class.



## Leaving Early



No, your coach cannot force you to leave class early to make practice.

This comes directly from the current Athletic Director. If you are

friends with persons arriving at practice before 4 PM, they do not have

afternoon classes or are choosing to put their extra-curricular sports

ahead of the **REST OF THEIR LIVES**.



## Essay



[Here](./therac.md) is a link to an essay assignment. You can look at it

at your convenience but do it only when assigned. The essay is six

percent of your grade and, at 500 words, is one third to one sixth the

length of a typical college essay. Five hundred words about life, death

and your responsibility as a coder is not too much to ask.



## Projects



Below is a listing of 10 "projects" of which only 8 are *truly*

projects. One is a tutorial and another is just to provide proof you're

ready to tackle the two kernel projects.



The *Weight* column provides a weighting of the project within the

Project Grading Component. It suggests my anticipation of the *relative*

difficulty of each project compared to the others.



The *OSTEP* column indicates how the projects correspond to course

material. The indicated chapters will be most helpful.



The *S&R* column indicates which chapters of Stevens and Rago can be

helpful.



The warmups each contribute one point to your final grade.



The projects together contribute 92 percent of your final grade.



| # | Project       | Space  | Weight  | OSTEP      | S&R |

| - | -------       | -----  | ------: | -----      | --- |

| - | [`getopt`](./projects/warmups/getopt/) | User   | N/A     | N/A        | N/A |

| 1 | [Shell](./projects/p1) | User   |  80  | 4, 5       | 1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 15 |

| - | Working xv6 | N/A    |  N/A    | N/A   | N/A |

| 2 | [System Call](./projects/p2/) | Kernel |  60     | 6          | N/A |

| 3 | [Schedulers](./projects/p3) | User     |  70     | 7, 8, 9    | N/A |

| 4 | [Guard Page](./projects/p4/) | Kernel  |  60     | 13         | N/A |

| 5 | [Allocators](./projects/p5) | User   |  70     | 17         | 7   |

| 6 | [Semaphores](./projects/p6/) | User  |  70     | 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 | 8, 11, 12 |

| 7 | [Named Pipe](./projects/p7) | User   |  100 | 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 | 8, 11, 12 |

| 8 | [FSCK](./projects/p8) | User   | 100 | 39, 40, 42 | 3, 4, 5 |



### Project Partners



* You are **required** to use a partner for all non-warmup projects.



* Your partner will be **assigned** to you by me.



* Members of the team must be specified by the partner handing in the

  project within the code they are handing in.



* The partner not handing in the project must submit a text file stating

  who their partner is.



* Both partners receive the same grade.



* Any partnership problems should be worked out by you but I can step in

  if necessary.



This is not intended punitively. In your future you will be required to

work with others. Failure in this can result in your dismissal even if

your other performance is superlative. Lone Rangers are *not desireable*

within teams.



It is *your responsibility* to ensure you and your partner work as a

team. Remember, your partner is *assigned* to you and you will have them

*only once*.



### Project Requirements



* Requirements are spelled out in each specification.



* Any deviation from the specification likely results in penalties.



* Generating even a single warning during building your own code will

  result in a 10 percent penalty. I will build on MacOS.



* Commenting is required. Failure to adequately comment is a mandatory 5

  percent penalty.



### No Late work



**Late work (factoring in one free grace day) will not be accepted.**



To state this differently, if an assignment is due on day *n*, you have

until the end of day *n + 1* to turn it in. After that, it will not be

accepted.



I award partial credit for substantial but incomplete work. This is

unlike the real world where incomplete work earns termination of your

employment. Hand in what you have... it's better than a zero.



## Grading Components



| Gradable Component | Weight  | Notes   |

| ------------------ | ------: | -----   |

| Projects           | 92%     |         |

| Essay              | 6%      |         |

| `getopt`           | 1%      | warm up |

| `working xv6`      | 1%      | warm up |

| Attendance         | Deduction Only    |         |



There is very little likelihood a curve will be applied in computing

your final grade.



## Accommodations



There are no exams in this course and projects already include a grace

day. Therefore, no significant accommodations ought to be necessary but

present your papers to me at the start of the semester anyway. We'll

discuss what should be done.



## Health and Counseling Center



The Health and Counseling Center (HCC) addresses student physical,

mental, and emotional well-being. All services, provided by experienced

professionals, are free and confidential to currently enrolled,

full-time undergraduate students. Students must call or visit the HCC to

schedule an appointment. Health services are available by walk-in or

appointment from 8:30am - 3:30pm. Counseling walk-in sessions are

available Monday through Friday from 11:30am to 1:00pm, last appointment

begins around 12:30pm, first-come first-seen. TWC, first floor(behind

mailboxes)| 262-551-5710 | Website | Mon-Fri 8:30am to 1pm and 2pm to

4:00pm.



## Learning Accessibility Services



Carthage College strives to make all learning experiences as accessible

as possible. If you anticipate or experience academic barriers due to

your disability (including mental health, learning disorders, and

chronic medical conditions), please let me know immediately so we can

discuss options privately.  To establish reasonable accommodations, you

must register with Warren Wolchuk in Learning Accessibility Services

[[email protected]]([email protected]).



## Academic Honesty



All work will be examined for originality. Should I find evidence of

copied work, all parties shall receive a grade of zero. If any

individuals are found to have copied a second time, the individuals will

be reported to the Provost's office for discipline and will receive a

zero for the assignment. Should an individual be associated with a third

instance, in addition to a second trip to the Provost, the individual

shall receive an F in the course.



The decision of the instructor is final.



## Bonus Materials



See [here](./pptx/) for some very old slides I made describing a few

topics in very succinct terms.



## General statement about "help"



Apart from lecture, I will not "just give you the answer." Rather, you

must demonstrate that you have exhausted the means available to you to

learn on your own. This is not punitive. This will be a requirement for

your future. You'll get in the habit now. This may be a lasting and

meaningful "gift" to you from me.



### Jishnu Mukerjee, Senior Systems Architect at Hewlett-Packard



When I was an undergraduate, Jishnu Mukerjee was the graduate student

who was in charge our department's

[PDP-11/60](). It ran an early

version of Unix, V6 to be exact... sound familiar?



The first time I had a question, I asked Jishnu and he answered it.



The second time I had a question, I asked Jishnu and he answered it.



The third time I had a question, I asked Jishnu and he handed me a print

out of the entire OS. He said, "All your answers are in here."



It was the greatest gift he could possibly give and I am thankful to him

to this day.