This course will provide an introduction to operating system design and implementation. The operating system provides a well-known, convenient, and efficient interface between user programs and the bare hardware of the computer on which they run. The operating system is responsible for allowing resources (e.g., disks, networks, and processors) to be shared, providing common services needed by many different programs (e.g., file service, the ability to start or stop processes, and access to the printer), and protecting individual programs from one another.
The course will start with a brief historical perspective of the evolution of operating systems over the last fifty years, and then cover the major components of most operating systems. This discussion will cover the tradeoffs that can be made between performance and functionality during the design and implementation of an operating system. Particular emphasis will be given to four major OS subsystems: process management (processes, threads, CPU scheduling, synchronization, and deadlock), memory management (segmentation, paging, swapping), file systems, and operating system support for distributed systems.
Note to students trying to register for the course: Seniors in the computer science program will be given priority (overrides for these students will be signed up through the first day of class). All other students must attend the first class (final decisions will be made by January 31st). Right now, the class is completely full; it is therefore unlikely that non-seniors will be added to the class (unless you have already spoken to me).
Instructor: Andrew H. Fagg
Teaching Assistants: Huan Li and Vijay Sundaram
Official class lectures: AEBN (Agricultural Engineering Building) 119, MWF 1:25-2:15
Official class Discussions: AEBN 119, Wed 2:30-3:20
Schedule #: 11722 (lectures), 11723 (discussions)
NOTE: Class time on Mondays and Wednesdays will be used for primary lectures; the Friday class time will be used for discussion.
Department of Computer Science,
Computer Science Building
University of Massachusetts
Amherst MA 01003-9264
Phone: (413) 545-2993, Fax: (413) 545-1249
Office Hours: T/Th 10-12, CS 248, or by appointment